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*-^..
Semi-centennial of the Borough
of Media, Penna., May 19, 1900
Media (Pa.), Media (Pa
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EMI-PENTENNIAL
OF THE
BOROUGH OF MEDIA
MAY, 19th, 1900
Program of the Day :
Ringing of church and fire bells and blowing of whistles, 9 a. m.
Literary Exercises in the Court House Square, 9.30 a. m.
Introductory Address, by Burgess Henry C. Snowden, Presiding Officer
Prayer, Rey. Wm. D. Thatcher
Song, ''Our Dear County Town,*' composed by Dr. George W. Smith,
and rendered by school children, band and audience
Address of Welcome, by Hon. Edward A. Price, Esq.
Music by Band
Address, ♦'Our Borough's Past,** by A. I^wis Smith, Esq.
Music by Band
Address *«Our Borough's Future," by Col. A. K. McClure
?^
y-i- SEMi-CENTENN]f^t;BQEV, by Benjamin C. Potts, Esq.
J Semi-Centennial Hymn, cotnupsed by hdi^etfl*. Green, Esq., and ren-
dered by school Jt:lpJdJ'^n,Jvil>d and audience
•• ••• T • •
; rBENEDICTiOl^
^ Military and Civic Parade, 2.30, P. M.
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THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
633708
AtTOH, LCNOX AND
TltOiN FOUM0ATI0H».
Borough Officers.
— 1900 —
Burgess, Henry C. Snowden, Sr.
Members ( Edward H. Hall, Winfield S. Worrall, Frank I. Taylor, Wm. F.
of j Lewis. Joseph C. Seal, William H. Hardcastle and Samuel A.
Council, i Field.
g^, J ( President, Horace P. Green ; Secretary, George E. .Whitaker ;
. 00 1 xreasurer, Edgar T. Miller ; Stephen H. Appleton, Henr>' C.
rec ors, j^ Bishop.
Auditors, John T. Reynolds, D. O. Cummins and Edward H. Rigby
Town Clerk, William H. Tricker
Treasurer, CD. M. Broomhall
Tax Collectors, Albin P. Ottey, James R. McDowell
Borough Regulator, C. M. Broomall
Borough Solicitor, George E. Darlington
Water Superintendent, George W. Carey
Constable and Chief of Police, James McKniff
Police Ofl&cers, Jesse W. Hoopes, Frank M. Smith and Alonzo Hoopes
Justices of the Peace, Forrest F. Williamson and John Watson
BURGESSES OF MEDIA.
1850 William T. Pierce 1852
1852 Charles R. Manley 1854
1854 Jesse Bishop 1855
1855 John C. Price 1857
1857 D. Reese Hawkin§.. ,• i860
i860 .^ lo^n V\i^^^}k: ;AV^. 1862
1862 [.•$.:ft«4s^H^Vjcin^; 1864
1864 * Pete^^Wo^iri:,y'• 1865
1865 JohnJ^Jtowlaptft\ 1871
1 8 7 1 Geo/^? V\J^.*^iDftii»iy 1873
1873 Nicholas T. Walter 1874
1874 H. C. Snowden 1878
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 5
1878 William Eves, Jr. 1880
1880 Samuel Button 1881
1 88 1 William Campbell 1882
Albin P. Ottey elected Feb. 21st, 1882, resigned April 3rd, 1882.
Henry Green elected and qualified to fill unexpired term Aug. 3rd, 1882.
1882 Henry Green 1890
1890 Terrence Reilly 1891
1 89 1 Isaac Worrall 1892
1892 George J. Stiteler 1894
1894 N. B. Cooper resigned January 15, 1896
Edward A, Price appointed to fill unexpired term to March 1897
1897 Edward A. Price 1900
1900 Henry C. Snowden
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
5emi-Centennial Committees.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE :
George E. Darlington, Chairman.
Thomas J. Dolphin, Secretary. Dr. Linn^us Fussell, Secretary.
Horace P. Green, Treasurer.
Joseph W. Hawley,
William H. Miller,
Caleb Hoopes,
Harry D. Pratt,
Frank I. Taylor,
H. R. Greenfield,
Henry C. Bishop,
Homer E. Hoopes,
William Hardcastle,
Dr. Trimble Pratt,
William P. Hippie,
C. Frank Williamson,
Edward A. Price,
Samuel P. Rush,
Dr. J. H. Fronfield,
H. C. Snowden, Sr.,
Emil Holl,
Samuel W. Hawley,
Joseph Chadwick,
H. C. Howard,
William L. Mathues,
A. Lewis Smith,
Thomas V. Cooper,
Charles H. Pedrick,
Charles R. Williamson,
Edward H. Hall,
George M. Lewis,
C. J. Bechdolt.
Samuel A. Field,
William F. Lewis,
John B. Robinson,
Joseph C. Seal,
Isaac Johnson,
Dr. T. C. Stellwagen,
Winfield S. Worrall,
Leon H. Watters.
Daniel Rice,
William Broadbelt,
Wellington Greavy,
Carol us M. Broomall,
Joseph E. Quinby,
Frank Henderson,
William Woodward,
Pennell L. Webster,
Alfred L. Hawkins,
H. W. Rhodes,
Friend W. Regester,
Mrs. F. W. Cook,
Mrs. W. S. Worrall,
Mrs. Warren A. Baker,
ENTERTAINMENT :
Emil Holl, Chairman.
Harry Ottey,
J. W. Cooper,
D. Hardcastle,
John Nolan,
S. P. Rush,
Lafayette Lindsay,
Edward Rigby,
Frank B. Rhodes,
H. J. Makiver,
Reuben Bailey,
Milford Baker,
Miss Julia Brown,
Miss Sue A. Dolphin,
Mrs. Joseph Leedom.
PARADE :
Edward English,
George Fisher,
Edward McClintock,
Charles Haworth,
Joseph Blythe,
Joseph Leedom,
E. S. Martin,
Lewis C. Hazlett,
I. N. Flounders,
W. C. Alexander,
J. Edward Smith,
Mrs. H. P. Engle,
Mrs. Benj. Broadbelt,
William L. Mathues,
Samuel A. Field,
Harry Hedge,
Philip J. Donnelly,
Frank I. Taylor,
Joseph W. Palmer,
P. H. Reilly,
Richard Fields,
A. Lewis Ott^y,
John Carpenter,
Winfield S. Worrall, Chairman.
Thomas J. Dolphin,
S. R. McDowell,
James E. Miller,
George W. Carey,
Garrett Burton,
Lieut. W. C. Tuckerman,
William H. Tricker,
Thomas Pratt,
William R. Ottey,
George Ray,
J. Harris Sloan,
James Flounders,
J. Lord Rigby,
Walter L. Rhodes,
Peter Parker,
Lieut. A. W. Mathues,
Dr. T. D. Young,
James McKniff,
Lafayette Lindsay,
Jordan Cavener.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
INDUSTRIAL:
W. T. Howell,
J. Elliot Taylor,
W. F. Broening,
H. M. McMullen,
B. T. Levis,
William Russell,
B. F. Fields,
E. H. Garwood,
S. P. Rush,
T. V. Cooper & Sons,
Hughes & Brother,
Carey & Brother,
J. W. Mathues,
Mrs. Rice,
Chester Candy Co.,
George M. Lewis,
T. D. Cooper,
Van L. Wolf,
A. Stehle,
Charles H. Pedrick.
C. Frank Williamson,
H. C. Snowden, Jr.,
Harry L. Battin,
E. L. Cunningham,
T. C. Rorer,
W. G. Hough,
H. C. Johnson,
M. C. Michener,
W. S. Westcott,
Wardle Ellis,
J. H. Fleming,
Joseph Blythe,
George B. Allen,
Major & Suter,
Mrs. Cook,
J. E. English,
William F. Lewis,
Benjamin Broadbelt,
E. Holl,
John Bader,
Chairman.
W. C. Ball,
George E. Adams,
H. P. Engle,
T. D. Mullin,
W. C. Rigby,
J. Boyer,
J. J. Rowland,
H. D, Pratt,
W. E. Dickeson,
Joseph Chadwick,
P. W. Ware,
P. L. Webster,
P. H. Reilly,
Estate T. J. Haldeman,
Daniel McClintock,
W. A. Cloud,
F. P. Malin,
J. Kirschnek,
Samuel Button,
RECEPTION .
H. R. Greenfield, Chairman.
Henry C. Snowden, Sr.,
Preston W. Ware,
Wm. K. Broadbelt,
Walter L. Rhodes.
Wm. H. Hardcastle.
Richard Fields,
George Whittaker,
William Patterson,
Dr. J. H. Fronfield,
Dr. Harry L. Smedley,
Albin P. Ottey,
George W. Carey,
Alfred B. Worrall,
James H. Sweeney,
H. C. Snowden, Jr.,
C. Frank Williamson,
Samuel P. Rush,
J. E. English,
FINANCE :
William P. Hipple, Chairman.
Joseph E. Quinby,
Harry Haywood,
J. Lord Rigby,
Warren A. Baker,
Dr. Ernest L. Clark.
TRANSPORTATION
C. J. Bechdolt, Chairman.
William H. Miller,
Thomas J. Osborne,
James G. Ruth,
Frank Downing.
LITERARY :
Horace P. Green, Chairman.
A. G. C. Smith,
Henry L. Broomall,
T. Chalkley Palmer,
Leon H. Watters.
Emil Holl,
Samuel R. McDowell,
Thomas S. Fields,
S. H. Appleton,
DECORATION :
Samuel A. Field, Chairman.
A. O. Reynolds,
Howard Rowland,
James McKniff,
Wardle Ellis,
Joseph E. Quinby.
PRINTING:
George E. Darlington, Chairman,
Dr. E, M. Harvey,
Thomas J. Maitland,
William E. Williamson,
U. G. Realey.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
MUSIC :
PRESS :
Charles H. Pedrick, Chairman.
William H.Calvert,
Miss Mamie Donnelly,
W. W. Davis,
Frank L. Lee,
Miss Henrietta Smedley,
Edmund T. Kuendig.
Thomas V. Cooper, Chairman.
John B. Robinson,
T. Speer Dickson,
Joseph C. Chadwick,
Edward J. Lindsay,
Samuel E. Turner,
Harry P. Ottey.
P. H. Reilly,
Frank E. Ottey,
BADGES :
Frank I. Taylor, Chairman.
W. S. Worrall, W. R. Hergerscheimer,
H. R. Greenfield, William H. Carey.
EAST WASHINGTON STREET.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 9
Descriptive Chapter.
BY T. CHALKLEY PALMER.
(ITIES and towns that lie beside sheltered harbors opening upon
navigable waters, be their history known or unknown, awake no
question in the mind of the wayfaring stranger. The "little
town by river or seashore" is there for the most obvious of reasons. So
BOROUGH HALL.
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lO SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
also, in long past days of feud and warfare, was the town "mountain built
with [momentarily] peaceful citadel." But in our country, and in our
own time, the uninformed casual traveller often has cause to wonder why
this or that particular hill, rather than some equally available neighbor
ing one, has been selected for the site of a town or a village.
Certain things are sent upon us for our sins. Among them is govern-
ment-^national, state and county. The County of Chester, in Pennsyl-
vania, founded by William Penn in 1682, originally embraced all the
territory now within the limits of Delaware County. The seat of the
county government was in the old town of Chester. There it remained
until, in 1786, the northern parts of the county having become will set-
tled, a more central location for the courts seemed desirable. West
Chester was therefore established as the new county town. But the
arrangement remained undisturbed only three years. Chester County-
was extensive in area and comparatively populous. The Legislature of
Pennsylvania, listening to the petition of many citizens, separated the
southeastern portion and erected therein the County of Delaware. Ches-
ter once more became a county town, and wore its honors unmolested
for the space of sixty years.
But the northern and western portions of the new county ceased not
to grow in population and importance; and again, as in the case of Ches-
ter County, there came a time when a more central location for the **Seat
of Justice" was loudly demanded. The agitation for the removal of the
Court House and Jail began in 1845. The act of Legislature providing
for this removal was passed in 1848. The interim was a time of warfare.
A lull account of the protracted contest is to be found in Dr. George
Smith's excellent "History of Delaware County." The story is of all
the more interest, because it is told by one of the most prominent pro-
ponents of the change. The act of Legislature carried with it the pro-
vision, that the new public buildings should be located not more than
one-half mile from the Almshouse, and no farther from the "State road
leading from Philadelphia to Baltimore." Nothing could have been
more definite, for the Almshouse was hard by the State road ; and the
town, which might in reason be expected to grow up about the new
public buildings, would need a comparatively level area, not too small,
whereon to spread. So was the hill-top chosen. Minshall Painter,*
looking upon the map of Delaware County, and seeing that here at last
a central location had been found, called the unborn town Media, The
gentleman's ''pretty wit" has made us his debtors.
The charter of Media, with its famous provision against the sale of in-
toxicants, still intact after fifty years, was granted in 1850. The laying
out of streets and the building of houses had already commenced.
The population of the three hundred acres covered by the charter, be-
ginning with the few families of the vicinity, who were for the most part
engaged in farming, was from year to year increased in a satisfactory man-
ner,and reached the respectable total of nine hundred in i860. The sta-
tistics of that same year read curiously at the present time. It appears
that there were in the Borough, 19 horses, 24 milch cows, 12 "other
* We are indebted for these particulars to Dr. George Smith.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR II
cattle," 20 sheep, 32 swine; and that the value of all these was ;?3,432.
Also, that the borough produced that year 256 bushels of wheat, 50
bushels of rye, 860 bushels of Indian corn, 170 bushels of oats, 578
bushels of Irish potatoes. From all of which it would seem that much
of the area was still under vigorous cultivation. But already several rows
of substantial houses had been built, and corner lots were, in the central
portion, mostly occupied. The Court House with its ample square,
formed the nucleus wherefrom the town spread to south, west and east.
The buildings were, from the start, mainly of brick. Dwelling houses,
stores, hotels, churches, livery stables, markets, and all proper acces-
sories of a town followed fast. Media was then and still remains es-
sentially a residence town.
In the seventies the Borough became a very popular resort for summer
boarders. Chestnut Grove House, Charter House, Worrell Mansion and
(in the vacations of Miss M. L. Eastman's school for young ladies,)
Brooke Hall, were filled to overflowing with Philadelphians and others
STATE STREET, EAST FROM ORANGE.
who desired, and who found here as in no other place so near the great
city, the rus in urbe^ the country air, the shade and quiet and coolness of
the open, without the isolation and the numberless inconveniences of
back-wood and remote, unpeopled hills. This movement had a most
beneficial result upon the town. Many who came to spend a month
returned as permanent residents. The character of these and other set-
tlers has to some extent been determined by the prohibition clause of
the Charter. Those who have made a careful study of the matter are of
the opinion, that our growth in population has not been retarded in the
least by our peculiar provision against the sale of intoxicants, and furth-
er, that the average character of our citizens has been afTected thereby
most beneficially. Opinions may vary as regards such questions. The
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12 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
fact remains, that without the aid of any large manufactures, without any
boom influence of any kind, and without any legalized provision for the
quenching of alcholic thirst, we have grown peacefully and wholesomely
to a community of 3,500. This is no Jonah's ground, springing up over
night and withering before mid-day. It is a slow, sure growth, such as
promises an indefinite continuation. Business is carried on in a satis-
factory way, and in some lines to no small extent. But it is as a resi-
dence town that Media more praticularly excels. If there is any salient
characteristic common to the bulk of the citizens, it is a tendency to Irue^
rationally and after the wisest manner, rather than to spend days in per-
sonal warfare, and nights in mapping campaigns, all wasted upon un
necessary accumulation of wealth. Churches, schools, scientific and
literary societies, are so many evidences that we do not altogether forget
the ancient and profound saying : "Life is more than meat, and the body
than raiment.'*
Media is located about five miles north of Chester, eleven miles in a
straight line east-by-south from West Chester, and about twelve miles
west of Philadelphia. By rail the distance from Broad and Market Sts.,
Philadelphia, is 14. 1 miles. Steam communication with that city is by
the Central Division of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore R.
R. There are twenty-five trains each way daily, several of which are ex-
press. The express time from Broad Street Station is twenty-two to
twenty-six minutes. The railroad crosses the valleys of Cobb's, Darby
and Crum creeks, the last by way of a high bridge over a narrow and
beautiful gorge. West of Media is a similar high bridge, wherefroni
the passenger is aflfored a wide outlook upon the broad valley of Ridley
creek. The same railroad gives frequent and satisfactory communica
tion with West Chester, Kennett Square, Oxford and Port Deposit.
Besides steam communition, there are two electric roads with termini
in Media. The Delaware County and Philadelphia Electric Railway
runs its cars every twenty minutes during the day. At Angora
connection is made with the Union Traction Company's cars running to
the foot of Chestnut St. The Media and Chester line runs cars every
half-hour, and the trip to Market Square, in Chester, is made ap-
aproximately in thirty minutes. Both these roads carry many passengers
through delightful sections of our county.
Of the many highways radiating from Media, two deserve especial
mention. The first is the Providence street road, leadmg from Chester
over the hills to Willistown. This road was laid out in larger part about
the vear 1683. From Chester to Media, and for .some miles beyond, it
is telforded, and affords good going thropgh(^ut the year. The other
turnpike has already been referred to incidentaly. It is knc^n as the
"State Road" and it extends from Philadelphia, through the most popul-
ous upland portions of Delaware and Chester countif s, to Baltimore. It
may now be considered as traversing our borough by way of Washington
St. It originally ran diagonally from near the eastern terminus of Wash-
ington, to State near Jackson, and gave the name to State. The anci-
ent route is still to be traced by a shallow depression south of State near
Jackson, by an old stone bridge in the valley east of Gayley, and by a
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 1 3
cutting in the hill still farther east.^ This road passes through Concord-
ville, Lhadd s Ford and Kennett Square, and is a main highway.
. Media stands upon the divide between Crum and Kidley creeks.
Those two streams arise far up among the hills of Chester County, run
approximately parallel courses, and empty into the Delaware less than
two miles apart. 1 he country they traverse is underlaid by very ancient
rocks — gneisses and hornblends, far older than tlie coal beds, twisted and
broken during middle and later geologic time, ana rounded into hills and
valleys at last. Ott some unknown shore, borne down by hurrying
streams from some now altogether vanished hills, the sediment was drop-
ped uncounted centuries ago. Later came earthquakes ol inconceivable
violence, grindings and twistings, influx and reflux of the seas. 1 he
level beds were distorted and broken, the Pennsylvania mountains were
forced up into the air. Delaware County's area became a place of cracks
and crevices. Some of the cracks were wide and deep,and they extended
in a northwest and southeast direction. It was through them that our
creeks found easiest passage to the lowland. Other smaller cracks ran,
with somewhat less regularity, at right angles to this. The smaller
streams, tributary to the creeks, followed the small cracks as the creeks
had followed the large. Under the combined action, slow but sure, of
frost and water and atmosphere, the sharp angles and steep walls of
stone at length were rounded off. Through unimaginable tribulations,
the country came at last to be one of rolNng hills and interlacing valleys.
No civilized and populous region is more full of quiet beauty.
Media is elevated three hundred feet above tide, but it is only three
miles from the terrace bounding the lowlands of the river — a long, regu-
lar hill, at the base ot which once roared the surf of the ancient Dela-
ware Bay. From the highest point in the town, one may look off to
southward and see across tops of trees growing on the lowlands, the
bright waters of the river, and white sails of vessels bound up or down.
Beyond lies New Jersey, showing as a blue streak, cloudlike, fair in its
remoteness. At nighf, the hoarse whistles of steamers are to be heard
answering each other on the river.
To the east one perceives the land to slope gently away to the hem.
lock-haunted valley of Crum. Sweeter stream run nowhere through
peaceful meadows into noble river.
Turn to the west, and you shall see a landscape not devoid of wildness.
Scroggie valley, a "little brother of the great Chester Valley," with its
lake and its rill ; the wide vale of Ridley Creek, losing itself by degrees
in the tangled hills to the northwest ; Mineral Hill, rugged and scarred ;
the heights of Lima and the stately dome of Elwyn. And when the sun
sinks of a summer evening behind those western hills, and the hues of
that lanscape shift and change ; or when of an afternoon, a thunder
storm comes slowly down the valley ; then does one at last pereceive the
full charm of this little bit of the world which is at his own door.
To the north, the hills go gradually up and up, until at last, in the
South Valley Hill, we reach as it was the rim of the country side.
As nearly as may be in the geographical centre of the county, we are
on all accounts most fortunately situated. The surrounding country is
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14 SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
beautiful, fertile, wholesome — and it is not ours to "sigh for Lebanon,"
when our
*« limbs have here increased
Upon a pastoral slope so fair,
And looking to the South, and fed
With honeyed rain and delicate air."
We have here pure water, and whatever makes for health and long
life. Ridley Creek, from which the water supply is taken, comes from
uplands void o( towns or other sources of contamination. We do not
have contagious diseases in Media. The death rate for the last six years
has been but 14. i per thousand. Of all who died during the same period :
42 per. cent, were over 60 years of age.
26 * * * ' * * < * 70 * * * * **
g,S ** ** ** *' 80 ** ** **
2 << (( it it Qo tt <« II
In the year's 1899, of the total deaths of adults :
77 per cent, were over 60 years of age.
20 '* ** ** ** 70 " ** "
These figures are from data supplied by the Board of Health. They
are by no means exceptional. Mr. A. P. Ottey's record of deaths, which
runs back for twenty years, shows that the rate was 13.1 per thousand
in 1890, and 8.8 per thousand in 1880.
Such results come from clear and wholesome air, water and streets, to-
gether with the natural advantages of Media's situation as regards drain-
age. These things we owe in part to nature and in part to the wise
management of the town's past and present rulers.
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1 6 . SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
Media Churches.
Providence Meeting House.
William Penn and his colony of Friends, settling in this county in 1682,
rapidly extended their settlements radiating Irom Chester.
Many emigrants came over and settled in what was then Providence
Township, since divided into the townships of Upper Providence and
Nether Providence. Religious meetmgs were first held by Friends in
Providence Township in 1684, although the place ol meeting is not now
definitely known.
Providence Meeting had its origin in the meetings held at the house
of Thomas Minshall. He lived about where William L. Green lived a
few years ago, southeast of the present meeting house grounds, and the
foundations ol this house can yet be see in what used to be William L.
Green's orchard.
There was no regular meeting house here until 1699, although a queer
little bit of local history seems to indicate a previous meeting. Sarah,
Elizabeth and Rebecca, three daughters of John Houlston, ''passed meet-
ing" on the same day ; viz, on i-mo 2, 1685, and were married to Peter
Taylor, James Swaffer and William Gregory, respectively, and a fourth
daughter, Martha, was married to David Ogden before the close of that
year. They may, however, have "passed" at one of the meetings held
at a private house.
In 1699 Robert Carter and others were appointed a committee to
select a suitable site for a new meeting house for Providence Meeting,
then called Thomas Minshall's Meeting. Although the Sandy Bank
burying ground was the place suggested, the Committee selected a lot
of ground **at the further end ol '1 homas Minshall's land by the high
road side," and Thomas Minshall donated to them an acre of ground,
the present meeting house grounds in part.
On this donated land the first meeting house was built in 1699,
and the first monthly meeting held at Providence Meeting House was
on 9-mo 25, 1700.
Old Providence Meeting has now been established for more than two
hundred years, and it would be hard to compute the amount of good it
has accomplished in the community in that time. Some six generations
have lived and flourished subject to its influence. In earlier times this in-
fluence was most powerful in spiritual and in temporal affairs; it watch-
ed over its members in health and in distress, carefully eyed their engage-
ments in marriage and business, prevented disputes among its members,
educated the young, and provided a burying place for the interment of
its dead. Its greatest care now is over matters of a religious and educa-
tional nature. Its influence has been universally exerted for the better-
ing of humanity. This influence still continues ; as years pass it has a
widening sphere in which to be exerted.
First Methodist Episcopal Church.
The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Media is 49 years old. A
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lot was purchased in August, 1851, on West State street, 80x150 feet,
for ^200. The first Board of Trustees was Charles Williamson, Sr.,
Daniel T. Hawkins, Robert Watkin," Hiram Pyle, George Williamson,
Sr., David Kruger, Joseph Iliff, John Hardcastle and Jabez Lawton, all
now deceased.
In the summer of 1852, Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper, D. D., preached fre-
quently on Sabbath afternoons beneath the apple trees on the church
lot. The corner stone of the church was laid by Bishop Levi Scott in
the summer of 1854. Ihe church was built of stone, 40x60 feet, two
stories. The first service was held in the basement on Sabbath Aug. 19,
1855. The Church was dedicated August 26, 1855. In 1858 Rev. I. T.
Cooper took charge. All these years the church was connected with
Village Green circuit. In March, 1859, at the request of the church, it
was made a station. Rev. Jeremiah Pastorfield was its first pastor, being
appointed in March, 1859. Ihe first choir was organized and led the
singing on April 14, 1 861. Total membership at this time, 241. Of
the original members of the church very few remain — Mrs. Prudence
Hawkins, Mrs. E. B. Kitts, Mrs. Mary E. Williamson. T. Chalkley Chal-
fant and his wife, James C. Henderson, Mrs. Eliza Hardcastle, James
Sweeney and his wife, Joseph Tuckerman and his wife.
The Sunday School numbers about 198, with Wm. H. Tricker, super-
intendent. The present pastor of the church is Rev. Aaron Rittenhouse.
The officers of the Board of Trustees are Albin P. Ottty, President ; C.
Frank Williamson, Secretary ; Ernest L. Clark, Treasurer ; Harry L.
Smedley, Secretary of Official Board ; Miss Martha E. Baker, Financial
Secretary.
Media Presbyterian Church.
The first preaching service looking towaids the organization of a
Presbyterian Church in Media, was conducted by Rev. James W. Dale,
D. D., in the old school house on the Providence Road, a little south of
the Worrell Mansion, on March loth, 1850. Preaching scrvi':es were
next held in the Court House. The present building was dedicated,
October nth, 1855.
The congregation was organized July 8th, 1859, t)y the election of the
following board of trustees : — Rev. James W. Dale, William Black,
Nathan Shaw, Samuel Stephens, William Beatty, Joseph Rowland, An-
drew G. Gayley and Richard Holmes.
The Church was organized Oct. 26th, 1865, with 46 members, three
deacons and four elders. Rev. James W. Dale, D. D., was called to be
its first Pastor. Dr. Dale continued as pastor till Aug. 3rd, 1871. Rev.
E. H. Robbins was called Nov , 1871, installed April i6th, 1872, and
remained till the spring of 1886. The present pastor. Rev. David TuUy,
D. D., was called Aug. 18, 1886, and installed October of the same year.
The present members of the session are : Rev. D. Tully, D. D., Moderator;
Cal. I. Leiper, Clerk ; Robert M. Henderson, Treasurer ; John G. Mackey,
Paul McKnight, Henry Riddle, A. G. C Smith, Leon H. Watters.
The present members of the board of trustees are Cal. I. Leiper, Presi-
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1 8 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
dent, Paul McKnight, Secretary ; Robert M. Henderson, Treasurer ; John
G. Mackey, Leon H. Walters, Ernest R. Yarnall, Morton Z. Paul, J. W.
Mathues, A. O. Reynolds, A. B. Adams, E. S. Martin and Henry Riddle.
A. G. C. Smith is the clerk of the congregation. The Sabbath School
first met in the house of John C. Beatty, in 1852, on the site where the
Charter National Bank now stands. It also held sessions in the Court
House. John G. Mackey is the present superintendent.
Church of theNativitv, B. V. M.
Prior to 1863 there was no Catholic Church in Media. From 1859
until that year mass was celebrated by the Pastor of Ivy Mills in the
homes of Edward Dugan and Mrs. Jane Farnan. Through the efforts of
the Rev. Thomas Kyle, pastor of St. Thomas Church at Ivy Mills, the
brick structure now used as a Sunday School was built and dedicated
September 14th, 1862. In 1863 the Rev. Henry L. Wright was appoint-
ed Pastor of Ivy Mills and of the mission in Media.
In November 1878, the late Archbishop Wood decided to give Media
a resident priest and appointed Father Wright the first pastor ol the
Church of the Nativity, and for thirty years he attended faithfully to the
spiritual wants of the Catholics in this locality and left behind him as a
monument of his zeal and piety the beautiful stone church at the corner
ot Monroe and Franklin streets. He also built the present rectory.
On June 19th, 1881, the corner stone was laid.
The Church was dedicated June, 1882, by the late Bishop O'Hara of
Scranton. Just ten years after the dedication Father Wright retired and
was succeeded by the Rev. Peter Quinn. The latter remained in charge
until October, 1893. when Father Wright again assumed the rectorship
of the Church in Media. At the request of the Rev. Henry L. Wright
the present rector. Rev. Francis Aidan Brady, was appointed March 2nd,
1899.
The societies connected with the Church are the Sacred Heart, Sodal-
ity of the B. V. M., The Temperance, and The Men and Ladies Benefi-
cial. The choir is under the leadership of Miss Cyrilla HoU and the
organist of the Church is Miss May O'Brien.
The First Baptist Church.
The First Baptist Church, was organized by a number of Baptists of the
Borough and vicmity, meeting in the Court House June 26th, 1871.
Casper H. Rudolph, was moderator of the meeting and Wm. Russell, Sr.,
clerk. The present house of worship was dedicated to the service of
God, May 2nd. 1872. Sept. 12th, 1872, the church was regularly recog-
nized as a Baptist church by the representatives of the sister churches,
appointed to attend the council called for that purpose. The first
oflficers of the church were as follows: — Moderator, C. H. Rudolph;
Clerk. Wm. Russell, Jr. ; Trustees, C. H. Rudolph, W. Cowperthwaite,
Wm Russell. Sr., Wm. Russell, Jr.; Deacons, Andrew M. Mathias, Wm.
Russell, Sr., C. H. Rudolph ; Treasurer, C. H. Rudolph.
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The following have officiated as. Pastors during the history of the
church :— Rev. J. T. Judd, 1873—1875 ; Rev. H. C. Applegarth, 1875—
1876, Rev.T. G. Wright, 1878— 1881 ; Rev. W. R. Patton, 1881— 1899.
The present officers 01 the church are: — Pastor, Rev. W. D. Thatcher,
1899; Trustees.Samuel Bryson, J. J. B. Robinson, Ihomas Hibberd,John
Madill, John Piatt, E. K. Acker, Wm. McCIintock ; Deacons, Samuel
Bryson, Davis Pugh, Samuel B. Moore, E. K. Acker, John Piatt, J.
J. B. Robinson. Clerk, Van L. Wolf. Treasurer, U. G. Realey. Present
membership of the church, 310. Present value of church property is
;? 1 0,000. The church has a present fund toward a new church building
of ^9,000, which is rapidly increasing.
Orthodox Friends.
The Friends' meeting house (Orthodox Branch) at North avenue and
Third street, was erected by Chester Monthly Meeting of Friends the
latter part of the year 1875. The first monthly meeting was held there-
in on 6th month 26th, 1876. Meetings for worship were held on First-
day afternoons, until 12th mo. 31st, 1877, since which time they have
been held on First and Fourth day mornings.
During the autumn of 1885, the western end of the building was
erected for the use of Concord Quarterly Meeting, which has been held
here since 2nd mo. 1886. The usual attendance at meetings for wor-
ship ranges from one hundred and fifty in winter to two hundred or
more during the summer.
Many Friends have been attracted to Media by the prohibition features
of its Charter and the absence of open saloons, and have erected perma-
nent homes. A school is maintained under the care of the meeting in a
pleasant building on the shady lawn. Meetings for worship are held
throughout the year on First and Fourth day mornings at ten o'clock,
when the presence of visitors is always welcome.
Campbell A. M. E. Church.
This is the oldest Methodist organization in Media, white or colored,
and is really one of the oldest of its kind in the county. It was organiz-
ed October 13th, 1842. Its first Trustees were Caiser Glasgow, Benja-
min Brown, and William Craig. The ministers who served at different
times . — Rev. M. F. Shiby, Rev. Grimes, Rev. P. M. Laws, Rev. Lewis
Hood, Rev. Wm. H. Bryant. Rev. Frank Bradley, is the present pastor.
Names of present Trustees : — Joseph Miller, Peter Parker, Benj. Harri-
son, John C. Linsey, James Bratcher, R. A. Thomas, Harry Frisby,
Geo. Bishop, and Pusey Nicholson.
A. M. E. Church.
The Union A. M. E. Church, N. Olive St., Media, was dedicated Oct.
1893, under the pastorate of Rev. Charles H. Nichols. Officers are
now as follows : — Stewards, Nathan Lockwood, Jeremiah Newman,
Charles Brown, Wm. Batipps, George Johnson, James Seeny, Edward
Brown. Trustees, Jacob Johnson, Charles Lindsay, Howard Price,
Eugene I-ebue, Isaiah Ball, Stephen Scott, Evans Simmons. Rev. Wm
H, Guy, pastor.
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20 SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
Educational I nstitutions.
Media Public Schools.
Prior to 1856, the children of the Borough attended the schools of
Upper Providence township at "Sandy Bank" and at the old school
house which stands on the east side of Providence Road, at the end of
Jefferson street.
The first school board of the borough was organized March 29, 1856,
and the schools were opened May 5. of that year, with Edmund Cheyney
and Ellen Valentine as teachers. The buildings used for school purposes
were a one room brick house on Lemon street, midway between State
MEDIA HIGH SCHOOL.
and Front streets, and a one room frame house erected by the school
board on the S. W. corner of Front and Lemon streets.
On May 28, i860, school was opened in the new building erected at
the S. VV. Corner of Third and Olive streets. This building was twice
remodeled (1868 and 1875), and in 1884 was torn down to give place to
the High School building which now occupies the old site. The pres-
sent tructure is built of brick with stone trimmings, has an excellent
system of steam heating and ventilation, and is supplied with gas and
water. The building contains twelve school rooms, all well lighted, and
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 21
thoroujThly equipped with modern apparatus. A two room building
was erected in East Media, in 1S94.
The schools are thoroughly graded, the course covering a period oi
twelve years. Drawing and vocal music are taught in all the grades.
The High School provides two courses of study; lor three years and
four years respectively. The former is an English coun-e, with one
year in Latin, while the latter covers the main features of the three years'
course, with two years in German and four years in Latin.
The growth of the schools is shown by the steady increase in the teach-
ing force. In 1856 two teachers were employed; in 1861, three ; in 1869,
four; in 1872, ^ve; in 1879, six; in 1884, seven ; in 1885, nine] in 1889,
EAST MEDIA PRIMARY SCHOOL.
ten; in 1894, eleven; in 1895, twelve; in 1898, thirteen. Besides the
thirteen grade teachers, there is a special teacher of drawing and a spec-
ial teacher of vocal music.
List of Principals of Media Public Schools:— Edwards Cheyney, 1856,
(4 months) ; Peter Sherwood, 1856, (i month); Geo. M. Alsop, 1857,
(c months); Jos. Ad. Thomson, 1857-62; W. Wallace Sweet, 1862,(4
months) ; C. W. Harlan, 1862-63 ; James Leys, 1863, (i month) ; Daniel
Lewis, 1864-65 ; Alice A. Moore, 1865, (3 months) ; Miss A. L. Boulton,
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22 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
1865-66; Anna M. Walter, 1866-72 ; Ruth V. Sharpless, 1872-74; Silas
C. Delap, 1874, (S months); B. N. Lehman, 1875-79; Wilmer N. Lam-
born, 1879-81 ; A. G. C. Smith, 1881-85 ; Eliza J. Brewster, 1885-89;
Leon H. Watters, 1889—
First School Board of the Borough :— H. Jones Brooke, Pres. ; R. H.
Smith Sec'y. ; Wm. F. Pearce, Treas.; Samuel P. Rush, D. R. Hawkins,
Thos. T. Williams.
Present School Board:— Horace P. Green, Pres. ; Geo. E. Whitaker,
Sec'y. ; Edgar T. Miller, Treas. ; James W. Baker, Stephen H. Appleton,
Henry C. Bisljop.
Friends' Select School.
Friends' Select School at Media, was fiist opened on 9th Month 14th'
1885, in the old rented building at the corner of Washington and Gay-
ley streets, and remained there for nine years. In the fall of 1895, it
was removed to the northeast corner of Washington and Church streets,
and remained there until 2nd Month ist, 1897, when it was removed to
the old grounds at Washington and Gayley streets, on which site the
present fine school building had been erected during 1896 — '97. At the
start, It was under the care of a committee appointed by Providence Pre-
parative Meeting, but on 7th Month 23rd, 1895, the care of the school
was assumed by the Monthly Meeting to be known as "Friends' Select
School under the care of Chester Monthly Meeting."
The Principals of the school have been as follows, in their order: —
Lydia S. Green, Annie E. Taylor, Caroline A. Barnes, Ehzabelh E. Hart,
Alice W. Jackson, Margaret R. Caley, Emma Fell Paxon and Alice A.
Roberts, the last named being the present principal, and having as
her assistants Esther E. Spicer and Annabel Hill. This is a fine school,
grading with Friends* Central School, 15th and Race streets, Philadel-
phia, and also preparing for Swarthmore College. Latin, French and
German are taught in addition to the usual branches of a good English
education. The school management is absolutely non-sectarian.
The Kindergarten.
Held in Friends' School building, Gayley Terrace.
In this age of higher education in all branches of applied instruction,
it is' a matter of pride to the citizens of Media to remember that the little
ones are not forgotten, and the most important part of their education is
so well looked to in the Media Kindergarten. In a beautifully and taste-
fully arranged room the children are taught through their natural in-
stincts of exercise and play, that which lies at the foundation of all prac-
tical education — correct observation and physical development. Froebel's
idea of leading the child from "expression to impression" by '^comparison
to reasoning,'* has been well worked out in the Media Kindergarten.
It opened in Media in the fall of 1883, when one was established in
the Presbyterian parsonage. The next year it was moved to the corner
of Washington and Church avenue, where it remained until the fall of
1896, when it was again removed to its present pleasant and convenient
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 23
quarters in the Friends' School building, under the efficient management
of Misses Matilda B. and EHzabeth L. Sprogell.
Children arc received from 3 to 7 years of age.
Kspecial attention is given to music and gymnastics.
The Kindergarten will be open in September, 1900. Hours from 9 A.
M. to 12 M.
Brooke Hall.
The late H. Jones Brooke, for whom Brooke Hall was named, erected
the building for Miss Eastman in 1855. They were associatt^d as part-
ners in the school for several years. It was then purchased b\' Miss
Eastman, who was the principal until 1890. The school was in charge
of Mr. Shortlidge for the next year, and was then leased by Miss C. E.
Mason. Miss Erxstman's death occurred Feb. 17th, 1895. ^^^ school
closed in 1897, and the building is now used for a summer bearding
house. During its active school work it was largely patronized from all
parts of the country. Mrs. President McKinley was a graduate, and
Miss Harriet F. Gault, now Postmistress of Media, was her teacher.
Media Academy,
Formerly known as Shortlidge's Media Academy, was founded by
Prof. Swithin C. Shortlidge, in 1875, and has been in successful operation
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24 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
since that time. Hundreds of boys have here been thoroughly prepared
either directly for business or professional pursuits, or lor entrance to the
leading colleges. Its former students are now represented through prom-
inent business and professional men in many parts of the country.
From the termination of Mr. Shortlidge's connection with the school,
in 1893, till 1896, the proprietorship and management was in "The Media
Academy Company/' a corporation created under the laws of Pennsyl-
vania and regularly organized for this purpose, while the school manage-
ment, as far as related to instruction, discipline and domestic arrange-
ments, was under the immediate charge of the present principal, Charles
W. Stuart, who had been an instructor in the Academy for seveial years
preceding his taking the principalship. In 1896 Mr. Stuart leased Irom
the "Media Academy Company" the grounds, buildings and equipment
and has conducted the Academy as principal and proprietor. The prin-
cipal is assisted by a corps of able and experienced teachers, who devote
their whole time to the school.
Social Organizations.
Institute of Science.
The Delaware County Institute of Science was organized on Septem-
ber 21, 1833, by George Miller, Minshall Painter. Dr. George Smith,
John Miller and John Cassin. It was granted a charter in 1836, and ni
the following year built a hall in Upper Providence township, near the
Rose Tree Hotel. In 1867, the Institute moved to its present building
on South Avenue, in the borough of Media, which it erected with funds
subscribed by its members and others in that year.
The membership of the Institute numbers 1 10. It has a museum of
local specimens in Botany, Mineralojjy and Zoology, and a scientific
library of about 5000 volumes. The general meetings of the Institute
are held on the first Saturday of each month and the meeting of the four
sections — Anthropological, Biological, Physical and Literar\', are held
weekly in the evenings.
The present officers are : — President, T. Chalkley Palmer; Vice Presi-
dents, Charles Potts, Henry L. Broomall ; Secretaries, Linnaeus Fussell,
M. D., John L. Carver; Treasurer, Carolus M. Broomall; Librarian,
Henrietta K. Broomall ; Board of Curators, Isaac S. Yarnall, chairman ;
Dr. Linnaeus Fussell, T. P. Saulnier, Hemy C. Howard, Edgar T. Miller,
Henry Mendenhall and the President.
Masonic Bodies.
Media has two flourishing Masonic bodies, Geo. W. Bartram Lodge,
No. 289, ¥. & A. M., constituted, June 2, 1856, and Media Royal Arch
Chapter, No. 234, constituted May 21st, 1870. These bodies occupy the
large hall at State and Orange streets, meeting monthly, the Lodge on
Monday on or before full moon, and the Chapter the Monday following
full moon. The Lodge has a membership of about 150 and the Chapter
about 75.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 25
The G. a. R.
Bradbury Post No. 149, Dept. of Penna., G. A. R. Organized, Media,
May, 1880. Semi-monthly meetings. Object, Fricndhliip, Lo} all}' and
Chanty. Highest membership 149, present membership, 1 14. Present
officers : — Commander, Samuel R. McDowell ; Senior vice-Commander.
Joseph Pratt ; Junior Vice-Commander, Dr. L Fussell ; Chaplain, Lewis
T. Hessler ; Quartermaster, Jesse Griswold ; burgeon, Dr. W. T. W.
Dickeson ; Officer 01 the Day, Charles H. Pedrick ; Officer of the Guard,
James Ruffine , Adjutant, A. V. B. Smith ; Sergeant Major, James H.
Worrall ; Quartermaster Sergeant, John Grimm ; Outside Sentinel, Henry
D. Carpenter ; Inside Sentinel, William A. Seal ; Trustees. O. Flagg Bul-
lard. Samuel P. Rush. A. V. B. Smith : Captain Post Guard, Thomas J.
Dolphin ; Lieut. Post Guard, Charles H. Pedrick.
The Media Club.
This well-known organization of the gentlemen of Media and its vicin-
ity, was organized in March, 1891, with Samuel W. Hawley as its first
president ; Wm. E. Williamson, secretary ; Homer E. Hoopes, treasuser.
The first executive committee consisted of Horace P. Green, Walter M.
Sharpies, Wm. F. Lewis, Geo. E. Darlington and Geo. M. Lewis.
The preliminary meetings were held over the old post office building,
next to Hawley & Snowden's hardware store. Permanent quarters were
first secured in the second and third stones of the Newbold building, at
the corner of South avenue and State streets.
In May, 1894, the club was incorporated, having then about seventy
members. Its present fine building, at the corner of South avenue and
Washington streets, was started in '94 and completed in '95. The build-
ing committee comprised Frank M. Brooke, C. J. Bechdolt and Ralph
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26 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENlfe
Buckley. The building sclieme was based entirely upon bonds, ^I5,CXX)
being issued and taken by the members. The moneys received through
these bonds, purchased the lot and paid for the building. They pay an-
nually 5 per cent, interest, this being substantially guaranteed by the dues
of the members.
The building is well furnished, has a parlor, a reading room well sup-
plied with all of the best current literature, a billiard and pool room and
card rooms all on the first floor, the basement having shuffle boards.
The amusements are entirely innocent and gentlemanly, no betting being
allowed, nor any liquors.
The second story shows a fine hall with dressing rooms and pantry,
well suited to public entertainments. This part of the building is chiefly
devoted to the uses of the Woman's Club.
The club has added much to the attractiveness of Media as a place of
residence, the members entertaining their friends, and the frequent, in-
deed the nightly, meetings make it a place for pleasant recreation and
enjoyment.
The cut, accompanying this brief description illustrates the architecture
of the building. It is e^^sentially a club house, modern in every respect,
convenient and ornate.
The present officers are : President, Dr. J. H. Fronfield , Vice Presi-
dents. C. R. Williamson. C.J. Bechdolt; Secretary, Isaac E. Johnson ;
Treasurer, A. G. C. Smith.
The annual dues of the club are IJ20, payable half yearly. The provi-
sion of the by-laws for an initiation fee has been suspended until the
membership reaches 100. It is now about 90. The Media Club is one
of the fine institutions of the town, and must remain so for years, since
club life has become a feature of every up-to-date community.
The Women's Club.
Although Media was not the first among suburban towns to respond
to the Club movement, there has been for many years, a tendency among
its women, toward co-operative action, through reading circles and other
small associations of a more or less temporary character. These cul-
minated in the organization called *'The Woman's Club of Media."
Feeling that better work in all directions could be effected, through the
activities of Club life, a few women met on January 26, 1894, resolved to
accomplish for their town, what was being so well done in neighboring
communities. As is usual, with any new enterprise, for which experi-
ence is lacking, mistakes and failures discouraged their earlier efforts.
As time went on, however, and the members realized that the power of
the Club for good, and its uplifting influen'^e was reaching out far be-
yond the limited circle of its founders, they were inspired with courage,
and felt that the result justified their loyalty and devotion.
If asked what the Club stands for the reply will be found in its avowed
purpose to ''create an organized centre of thought and action' among the
women, for the advancement of their interests, and tor intellectual, moral
and social development," — and by their eflTorts in these directions, to
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 2^
promote the best interests of the community, through civic, educationa
and social reform and advancement.
The Club is now firmly established, with a membership of one hun-
cired and sixty -five, and has become a recognized agency for good work
along the lines above indicated.
Present officers : — Clara Booth Miller, President ; Rebecca L. Smith,
1st vice President ; Sarah Brooke Lewis, 2nd vice president; Dr. Francis
N. Baker, 3rd vice president; Loraine M. Ketchum, recording secretaiy;
Lydia G. Hawkins, corresponding secretary ; Edna K. Cheyney,
treasurer.
Media's Golf Club.
The Springhaven Golf Club, which was the first club of this kind to be
started in the vicinity of Media, was organized in October of 1896, with a
membership of twenty-five, and for the following winter obtained per-
mission to use the fields of the old **Springhaven Faim," at the northern
end of the borough. The following April, a lease for a number of years
was taken for the entire farm , and in November of 1899 another field
was obtained, giving the club the use of about sixty acres of beautiful
rolling country, about half of which is within the borough limits. When
the club was first organized, there was some doubt as to whether it
would be successful, the game ot golf at that time being but little known
in this neighborhood, but with the opportunity offered for playing, it at
once became very popular and is now an assured success. Commencing
with twenty-five, the membership rapidly increased until at the present
time it numbers one hundred and sixty.
The officers of the club are as follows : — President, George T. Butler;
Vice President, Simon Delbert, Jr.; Secretary, Miss E. B. Reed ; Treas-
urer, Harry W. Rhodes.
Board of Governors— Dr. Charles H. Schoff, Dr. Caspar W. Miller,
Mrs. Wm. H. Corlies, Mrs. Robert W. Downing, Rev A. J. Arnold,
Henry P. Dixon, Thomas R. Tunis and Mrs. Somers Rhodes.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
The Media branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was
organized April 12, 1888, by Susan M. Fessenden of Maine, one of the
National organizers.
The meetings are held regularly on the fourth Wednesday of every
month in the year, excepting July and August.
Place of meeting : Hall of the Delaware County Institute of Science.
Present officers : Clara B. Miller, President; Mary B. Russell. 1st
Vice President; F. Alice Watters, 2nd Vice President; Mary T. Fussell,
3rd Vice President; Ida V. Green, Corresponding Secretary; Henrietta
K. Broomall, Recording Secretary ; Caroline L. Broomall. Treasurer.
The aims of this organization are everywhere well known. Its work
is for the protection of the home, and the application of Christian ethics
to the laws and customs of mankind. Hence the motto, ''For- God and
Home and Every Land."
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28 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
Media Republican Club.
The Media Republican Club was permanently organized on April 13,
1899, and the following officers were elected : President. J. Lord Rigby ;
Vice President, Wm. L. Mathucs ; Recording and Corresponding Secre-
tary, H. J. Makiver ; Financial Secretary, Wm. H. Harrison, Jr.; '1 reas-
urer, Wm. P. Hippie.
On July lOth. 1899. a charter was granted to the club by the Court of
Common Pleas of Delaware County. The club rented for a headquarters
the property No. 1 1 1 North Olive street, and opened their club house
July 20, 1899.
Since the organization, the club has entertained many prominent men,
and is now in a flourishing condition with 1 50 members. Membership
in the club is limited to 200.
The following are the present officers: President, J. Lord Rigby;
Vice President, Wm. L. Mathues ; Recording and Corresponding Secre-
tary, H. J. Makiver ; Financial Secretary, Wm, H. Harrison, Jr.; Treas-
urer, Wm. P. Hippie ; Directors, Thos. S. Fields, David H. Stiteler,
Newton P. West, H. C. Snowden. Jr., E. S. Hickman, Linwood J. Han-
num, J. Harvey Smith, Jos. M. Rogers, Dr. S. A. Beale, J. H. Menden^.
hall.
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semi-centennial souvenir 29
The Media Fire & Hook & Ladder Company.
The first fire apparatus was the property of the borough, and consisted
of a hand engine, hose reel and a lot of leather hose. This old engine
was like the schoolmaster of early days, it boarded around ; and when
needed few were they who knew where to find it.
The first ofificers elected were President Geo. E. Darlington; Secretary,
Horace R. Manley ; Treasurer, E. H. Hall.
On Sept. 1 6th, 1890, a meeting was held in the Council Chamber for
the purpose of organizing a fire company of active and contributing
members, to be subject to the rules and regulations of the Media Fire
Protective Association.
A constitution and By-Laws were adopted, a Charter obtained, and
thus was launched the Media Fire & Hook & Ladder Company No. I
The project was now started, and with its honored and respected Presi
dent, Terrence Reilly, at the helm its success was certain.
The first quarters of the Company were a stable on Jasper St., next to
Orange, from there a move was made to State St., next to the present
Post office, and on May 13th, 1893, to the present quarters in the
Borough. The day was , virtually a holiday in the County, there
being over 5000 visitors to witness the parade of visiting firemen ircm
Delaware aad Chester Counties and from Philadelphia.
The apparatus of the company consists ot one La France Steam Fire
Engine ; one truck equipped with ladders, poles, axes and chemical ex-
tinguishers ; one nickel plated hose carriage that has taken \aluable
prizes on various occasions ; one hose reel and two thousand feet ol best
hose, etc.
The history of the Company has been one of saving property. On
the roll of membership are found the names of prominent statesmen,
lawyers, bankers, doctors, merchants and mechanics all of vhom
are ever ready and willing to work for the public good when
duty calls. The officers of the Company at this time are: — Piesic^ent,
Samuel A. Field ; Vice-President. V\'illiam H. Harrison. Jr. ; Recording
Secretary. Thomas J. Dolphin ; Financial Secretary, D. Otky Cunr.mins;
Treasurer, William P. Hippie ; Foreman, Winfield S. Worrall ; Assistant
Foreman, Warren A. Haker ; Engineer, Bernard J. Donnelly ; Assistant
Engineers, Wm. H. Woodward, Daniel Rice, A. Wilson Mathues, Frank
Messick ; Directors, P. H. Reilly, Wm. C. Rigby, and Walter L. Rhodes.
The Mt. Zion Lodge.
The Mt. Zion Lodge, No. 61 F. & A. M., (colored), of Media, Pa., or-
ganized, June, 1867, was first known as Mt. Hebrew, No. 47, afterwards
changed to the above name. During all of this time it has never failed
to discharge all its obligations, and at present is in a flourishing condi-
tion, with a membership of forty-two.
It is presided over by the following oflfiers: — Garrett Burton, W. M. ;
Andrew Wrench, S. W. ; Joseph Nocho, J. W. ; Stephen Scott, Treas. ;
Lucien J. Johnson, Sect'y. ; J. Latimer Paxon, Cor. Sec'y.
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30 semi-centennial souvenir
Media's Military.
The first regular militia company was started Feb. 3rd, 1877. Its first
officers were : Capt., John W. Russell ; 1st Lieut., Lewis N. Suter ; 2nd
Lieut , Jesse M. Baker. The Company was then called Young's Rifles,
Co. G, I ith Rgt. Inf., N. G. P. The name was afterwards changed to
Cooper Rifles. Ihe company was transfered to the 6lh Rgt., and is now
known as Company H, 6th Rgt., Inf., ist Brig. N. G. P. The company
since its organization has been three times called into active service :
in the Pittsburg and Homestead Riots, and in the Spanish-Ameri-
can War. It always answered promptly and with full ranks. It has
been honored by having two of its members commissioned in the
regular army, and one a Captain of Commissary in the U. S. Vol.
Many of its old members are now fighting in the ranks in the Philippines.
It is at present commanded by 1st Lieut. W. C. Tuckerman, with A. W.
Mathues as 2nd Lieut. The following have been officers of this
Company : —
CAPTAINS. FIRST LIEUTS. SECOND LIEUTS.
John W. Russell, Lewis N. Suter, Thos. R. Vernon,
Jesse M. Baker, Charles Williamson, John Hawkins,
James R. Cummins, William McClintock, E. Claude Goddard,
William R. Carson, V. Gilpin Robinson, James C. Henderson,
Ralph Lewis, William Leedom, A. Wilson Mathues.
Henry H. Stewart, Wilmer C. Tuckerman.
Walter Washabaugh.
Kossuth Lodge, No. 393, 1. O. O. F.
This lodge was instituted on January 22nd, 1850, in the third story of
the building at present occupied by the First National Bank, at that
time known as Black's store. The first officers were: — N. G., N.
Walter Fairlamb ; V. G., Peter Worrall ; Sec, Samuel Hunter; Asst.
Sec, John Ottey ; Treas., J.M. Hunter. So many of the members went
to the front during the war of the rebellion that the lodge for a while
was compelled to suspend, but it was reorganized on May 7th, 1870.
The present membership is 52. The invested funds of the lodge at
the present time amount to I1700.
The present officers are:— S. P. G.. Wm. H. Tricker; N. G.. Harry P.
Engle ; V. G.. E. L. Cunningham ; Sec, Wm. H. Hardcastle ; Asst. Sec,
Dr. Geo. W. Hinkson ; Treas., Thomas Heacock ; Trustees. Horace J.
Malin, Wm. H. Henderson, and Edward Minton. Rep. to Grand Lodge,
H. J. Malin ; Rep. to Orphanage, Samuel Bryson.
Media Council, No. 749, JR- O- U. A. M.
This organization was formed November 21, 1871, with 46 members
on the roll. It meets in the Town Hall every Thursday evening. There
is a funeral death benefit association attached which all members are
privileged to join. The benefits are ^250 upon the death of a member.
Eight have died since its institution and their families have received the
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SEMICENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 3 1
benefits. The membership at the present time is 126. The present offi-
cers are, Councillor, J. E. English ; Vice Councillor, Howard Byre ; Re-
cording Secretary, Richard Fields ; Assistant Rec. Sec'y, George Nyce ;
Financial Secretary, R. E. Sharpless ; Treasurer, Frank E. Ottey ; Con-
ductor, Elmer Clark ; Warden, Wm. Cribb ; Inside Sentinel, Charles
Byre;Outside Sentinel, H. L. Welsh, Jr.; Past Councillor, L. E. English ;
Trustees, Wm. Patterson, Samuel Gray and J. E. English ; Representa-
tive to State Council, Richard F*ields ; Alternate, R. E. Sharpless ; Rep-
resentative to Funeral Benefit Association, F. E. Ottey ; Chaplam, Sam-
uel Gray. The Council is in a flourishing condition.
Brookhaven Grange.
Brookhaven Grange was organized November 12th, 1898, with sixteen
charter members, and a present membership of fifty-eight.
The present officers are : — Worthy Master, J. E. Miller; Overseer,
Thos. B. Palmer ; Lecturer, Letitia Edwards ; Steward, Wm. Conrad ;
Ass*t. Steward, E. K. Edwards; Chaplain, Clarence Bonsall; Treasurer,
Thos. Palmer ; Gate Keeper, Alfred Barlowe ; Ceres, Ella Cloud ; Pomona,
B. M. Miller ; Flora, Evelyn Caldwell ; Lady Ass't. Steward, Bertha
Cloud ; Secretary, Annie R. Sidwell.
Meetings are held bi-monthly in the Media Borough Hall, the first
and third Wednesday evening of each month.
The program consists of Agricultural topics. Music, and Literary
exercises.
The Temperance Association of Friends
of Media, was formed by Orthodox Friends of Media, in 1895, for
strengthening among themselves and others, principles of Temperance
and Morality.
To further this object, a Boys' Reading Room and Parlor has been
maintained at No. 14 South Avenue, Media, for the use of all boys of
the borough. A well selected library of 7CO volumes, with current peri-
odicals, suitable for boys ; a carpenter shop, where modeling is done,
and many interesting and attractive games, are some of the features
which have drawn the lads to it, with encouraging results. The presi-
dent of the Association is Stanley R. Yarnall, and the secretary is Han-
nah Rhoades.
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32 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENlH
Introductory Remarks
by Henry C. Snowden, Burgess.
Following precedents long established, we meet together today to
celebrate an important event in the career of our borough — the filtieth
anniversary of its birth.
History has been made rapidly on this western continent, but a little
more than two hundred years having elapsed since the advent oi Wm.
Penn in our State ; hence the pleasant borough in which we now reside
has existed for about one-fourth of that time.
What great changes have taken place smce the birth of this nation !
From a few scattered centres on the Atlantic seaboard we have grown
in our mighty strength to a population of more than seventy miHions,
extending from ocean to ocean. Iron and steel have supplanted wood
as structural materials, and steam and electricity have taken the place of
the white sail and horse and of whale oil, while the telegraph and tele-
phone have brought all the earth into easy communication.
But even within the short life of our borough other changes of the
utmost importance have occurred in the world. Political divisions have
been adjusted and readjusted, unexplored regions have been brought
within the realm of civilization, and the unification of the United States
into the greatest of nations, made secure through the fiercest struggle at
arms of modern times.
In the great spirit of progressiveness which is leading us, it is only a
question of where and when wonders will cease, as we unfold the future,
and the hand and brain of man be stayed.
When there shall come the time for our Centennial Anniversary, it
may be the province of those who then address the citizens of Media co
tell of still greater achievements in history and science.
We will now, my friends, proceed with the order of the program.
Opening Address
by Edward A. Price, Esq.
Fellow Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen : —
The Literary Committee of the Semi-Centennial Celebration, has kind-
ly delegated to me the honor of making the opening remarks on this
occasion.
I fully appreciate the compliment, and in the name of the General
Committee in charge, extend to all those present a warm and hearty
welcome.
It is not for me to go into details as to the past or future of the
Borough. Others will follow to whom specific subjects have been as-
signed, whose addresses will both interest and enlighten you.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 33
A few words, however, on the causes and influences that led to the
establishment of the place, and a glance at present conditions may not
be amiss.
In the year 1845, that portion of the people of Delaware County re-
siding in the Borough of Chester and parts adjacent were called upon the
second time in the history of County affairs, to meet the question ol
removing the County seat to a more central point.
Prior to the year 1789, all the territory comprising the limits of the
present Counties of Chester and Delaware, constituted then the County
ot Chester, the seat of which was the Borough of Chester, located on the
River Delaware.
Many of the inhabitants lived at remote points from the County seat,
and there being no conveniences of travel, found it difficult to reach that
place, when business or pleasure called them there.
After a long agitation, the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in 1785, pass-
ed an -A'^t, the eflfect of which was to remove the seat of justice from
Chester, to the Turks Head Tavern in Goshen Township, now known as
West Chester. The removal was a grevious blow to the people of Ches-
ter and vicinity, who now began to feel for themselves the inconveniences
that the former removalists had felt, and a petition was sent to the
General Assembly praying for relief by the erection of the southeastern
part of the County into a separate County.
The Legislature by an Act passed September 26, 1789, authorized a
division of the County, and directed that all that part of the County of
Chester now embraced within the limits of the County of Delaware,
should be erected into a separate County, to be called by that name, and
Chester was fixed as the County seat.
In 1845 as stated, a second agitation was begun for the removal of the
seat of justice of the County from Chester to a more central location, and
on April 7th, 1848, after an acrimonious discussion by the people, an
Act was passed by the Legislature, confirming a previous Act passed
March 3rd, 1847, authorized the removal of the seat 01 justice irom the
Borough of Chester, to the present site in the township of Upper Provi-
dence.
On March 11, 1850 a Charter was procured from the Legislature creat-
ing the Borough of Media. 1 he town was laid out by the County Com-
missioners, and the County buildings erected on that portion of the
Borough which had been purchased from Sarah Briggs, adjoining the
County Farm lor the support and employment of the Poor, from which
tract many lots were soon sold.
On April 6, 1854, an Act of Assembly was passed, authorizing the
Borough and Town Council to erect water works. These works, origin-
ally erected on a small stream passing through the western part of the
Borough, and afterwards changed to the present site on Ridley Creek,
have under judicious management been greatly improved, so that while
giving the people of the town a pure and wholesome supply of water,
are a source of considerable profit.
The location of the place was judicious. Lying on the high plateau
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34 SEMl-CENtENNlAL SOUVENlR
between Ridley and Crum Creeks, the opportunities for natural drainage
could not be excelled.
The point was central, the State Road from Philadelphia to Balti-
more passing through the place gave access by carriage to the people of
the eastern and western parts of the County, while the Edgmont Great
Road, one mile to the westward and Providence Great Road, passing
through the eastern part of the Borough, and both running from the ex-
treme northern end of the county to Chester, gave access to the inhabi-
tants of the northern and southern sections.
A prominent and distinctive feature of the Charter was a clause pro-
viding, **That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to vend or
sell vinous, spirituous or other intoxicating liquors within the limits of the
said Borough except for medical purposes or for use in the Arts; and it
shall not be lawful tor the Court of Quarter Sessions to grant any license
or licenses therefor to any Inn or Tavern within the said Borough."
The importance of this provision cannot be overestimated. It gave
assurance to many an unfortunate that here was a haven of security trom
an uncontrollable appetite — a veritable city of refuge from a remorseless
pursuer.
It has been much criticised, and unsuccessful attempts have been
made to change it, but it still stands as a part of the organic law and as
a lasting monument to the unselfish Philanthropy and Christian spirit of
those whose efforts brought about the result.
This feature, together with the many natural advantages of the new
settlement, and the fact that it was the County seat, soon attracted a
large population and many fine residences were at once erected.
It has kept up a steady growth, and is now the largest Borough in the
County.
The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad with swift moving
trains, supplemented by the Delaware County Turnpike Electric Line,
places tile town almost at the door of the City of Philadelphia, while the
Media and Chester Electric Line makes Chester conveniently near.
The place contains three Banking Institutions, several fine Halls, a
Fire Insurance Company, Churches of the leading denominations, one
Kindergarten and two other good Private Schools, two high grade
Public Schools. Gas and Electric Light Works, a well equipped and
efficient Fire Company with steam fire engine, hook and ladder truck,
hose carriages, a commodious Town Hall, and well paved streets and
side walks. Uniformed policemen guard the town both day and night,
and United States Postal Carriers deliver to, and take the mails from the
doors of the people, who are intelligent sober and industrious, and in the
main own the houses which they occupy.
In 1875, the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the organization of the
Borough was celebrated by a dinner at the Charter House. At this
celebration a number of those who were prominent in the organization
of the town took part, all of whom have passed away.
To-day we celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization.
Many of those I see before me, have been residents from the inception
of the Borough, and have witnessed the growth of the place as year by
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 3$
year the settlement unfolded. The residence of many others also here has
not been so long. All, howiever, feel a just and honest pride in the town,
and all open their hearts and homes to those of other places, who have
honored us with their presence, and to them again we say welcome,
thrice welcome.
We trust that the exercises to-day may remain as a pleasant memory
with all participating, and hope that the next fifty years in the lite of
the Borough, will be as prosperous, progressive, and conservative as has
been the past.
Media's Past.
Address by A. Lewis Smith.
When Peter Taylor, upwards of two hundred years ago, bought the
ground on which we stand to-day, he little surmistd the changes which
have since converted this part of Penn's wilderness into a charming
abode of men. That sturdy pioneer had no moie conception
that his inexpensive acres would some day be the centre of a
prosperous community than he had ol the coming of the Great
Republic of which that community is but an unpretentious mem-
ber, t'or a long time after his day the progress of improvement
was slow, for the soil hereabouts was not very responsive, and the
science of Jarming as we of to-day understand it was unknown ; so that
the synonym of ♦•Poor Providence" clung to this section long after the
locality had been made measurably productive. It is not however with-
in the scope of this paper, nor is my purpose, to trace the annals o( the
people or of the place prior to the beginnings of the well ordered munic-
ipahty whose semi-centennial we have met together to-day to com-
memorate. Nothing now remains to remind us of the history and
secluded lives of these early people but the desolate old God's acre,
located by them on the great highway to Chester and known as Sandy
Bank Graveyard, with its now quaint and half legible inscriptions and
thorny and neglected paths.
Media had no common origin. Unlike most centres of population it
cannot trace its inception to the cross-roads store, tavern and smithshop.
On the contrary it came into being like the great neighboring city of
Philadelphia as the result of a well considered design, that it should be
the "capital" of a prosperous body politic.
The agitation which resulted in the removal of the seat ot justice of
Delaware County from Chester had indeed its counterpart in the last
century, when that town was the county seat ot the large county of the
same name. As the removal in that case of the public buildings from
Chester to the Turk's Head (afterwards called West Chester) was strenu-
ously opposed by the citizens of Chester and its vicinity, and required
not less than three acts of the legislature, and a contest extending over
some five years, for its final accomplishment in 1786; so here, the con-
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR ^
troversy which began actively in 1845 lor ^^e erection of county build-
ings in a more central and convenient section ol the county than Ches-
ter, lasted an equal length of time, ana required besides, two acts of As-
sembly, a vote of the people of the county, and a decision of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania to crown it with success. The anti- removal ists
ol 1^45 were no less vehement in their opposition to the change in the
county seat proposed at that time than their fathers had been in 1785,
and it may be salely asserted that no political movement which has ever
occurred in our county lias heen sustained by organizations better equip-
ped and better led than those of both the removalists and anti-removal-
ists of a half century ago. There was no baneful greed for public office
interwoven with the question at issue to obscure its true merit, and each
party counted among its leaders the very best and most intelligent
citizens of the county, by whom the matter was thoroughly discussed in
all its bearings, especially in the public journals of the day. No prop-
osition was ever better understood by those who were to pass upon
it and there is no doubt that the majority of 762 in favor of removal, out
of a total vote of 3132, accurately reflected the preponderance of public
sentiment upon the question, uninfluenced by any other considerations
whatever. Let us so believe, and at the same time hope that the result
which was reached was of no less benefit to the vanquished than to the
victors. The citizens of Chester, then numbering less than 1700 souls,
saw nothing but ruin and disaster in the outcome, but with a population
which has now grown in number to about 40.000, they have long since
forgiven and even forgotten the slight put upon their ancient borough
by the people of the county.
The immediate cause of the open contest in favor of removal which
began in 1845, ^^s the necessity that existed for the erection of a new
jail. The majority of the people of the county were unwilling that the
public funds should be expended in rebuilding the jail in Chester and in
thus perpetuating the county seat in a place so inconvenient as that was
to a large proportion of the inhabitants. The Act of March 3rf', 1847,
which provided for a submission of the question of removal to a vote of
the people, enacted that if a majority should vote against removal a new
jail should be erected in Chester, but if a majority should vote in favor
of it, the county commissioners were required to fix and determine the
exict location of the new public buildings, which was not to be more
••than one-half of a mile from the farm attached to the house for the
support and employment of the poor** of Delaware county, and not more
than a half mile from the State road leading from Philadelphia to Balti-
more, commonly known in those days as the Baltimore pike. The farm
referred to was a tract of upwards of 150 acres belonging to the county,
familiarly called the Poor House farm, lying to the eastward and north-
ward of the present Court f^ouse, and which for a period of forty years
and upwards had been used for the purposes indicated by that title.
Soon after the decision of the Supreme Court sustaining the constitu-
tionality of the Removal Act, the County commissioners bought at
Orphans Court sale from the estate of Richard BriiTgs a tract of land
containing about forty-eight acres, of which the farm buildings were
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38 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
those on State street afterwards occupied for many years by the late Dr.
Joseph Rowland, and upon it they located this Court House square in
which we are to-day. The deed to the county was dated June 28, 1849.
Although the Act conferring authority on the county commissioners
only extended to the locating of the new public buildings, yet so firmly
had the notion become settled in their minds, as well as in the minds of
the entire community, that these buildings were to become at once the
nucleus of a considerable urban population, that when these gentlemen
laid out streets throughout the tract and subdivided it into building lots
to be resold by them with an "unearned increment" added to the value,
no one questioned their authority to conduct this speculative scheme.
It will be borne in mind that the borough of Media was not incorporat-
ed until the following spring, yet these commissioners proceeded to
cause a survey and plan of their purchase to be made by two reputable
surveyors, Joseph Fox and Josiah Hibberd, which purported to establish
not only the streets of the prospective town, but the grades and house
lines as well. This plan is now disposited in the office of the Prothono-
tary of the Court of Common Pleas in the Court House. It is attested
by the signatures of the surveyors just named and of the commissioners
themselves, and bears date September 3, 1849. Oddly enough it is
entitled "Plan of the first division of the survey and regulations of the
borough of Media, the seat of Justice of Delaware County, Pennsylvania."
It is therefore manifest that our borough was well under way at least
six months before it was incorporated, and that its responsible promo-
ter at that time was the County of Delaware as represented by its board
of Commissioners.
The location selected by the commissioners was believed to be near
the centre of the county. It was certainly centrally placed as respects
three of the ancient land-marks of the county, the Rose Tree Hotel to
the north, the Providence Inn to the east, and the Black Horse Tavern
to the west, each one of which had its earnest advocates in favour of
making it the focus of the new town.
The main highways through the proposed borough were the Provi-
dence Road and the State Road which intersected each other at the
east end of the present Washington street. The State Road which ex-
tended from that place in a northwestwardly direction to a point west of
the house of an old resident, named John Way, on State street, near
Jackson, whence it corresponded very nearly with the present
line of State street as far west as Lemon street, where it
diverged in a southwestwardly direction, has been vacated wherever it
did not coincide with the streets laid down on the plan, but its location
may still be traced by indications on the ground. The Providence Inn,
the only one of the three just named located within the borough limits,
was situated at the junction of those two roads and was owned and kept
by Peter Worrall, Jr. It had been a licensed hostelry from a very early
period, (originally under the name of the Anvil), but upon the incorpora-
tion of the borough it lost its license, and has since been remodeled
and occupied as a private boarding house.
Two weeks after the adoption of this plan the commissioners held their
first public sale of lots laid out in accordance with their survey, and so
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 39
keen was the public interest in the founding of the new town that the
result surpassed all expectations. The total sum realized from the sale
of only a portion of the 200 lots laid out by the commissioners was al-
most equal to the cost to the county of the entire Briggs tract. The
first deed on record for any of these lots was that to John C. Beatty,
dated November 6, 1849 and recorded on the same day. It conveyed
to Mr. Beatty the lot located at the northeast corner of State street and
South avenue, containing in front on State street, 105 feet and in depth
along South avenue 100 feet to Jasper street. The price was $367.50.
The same lot would probably now be worth |lio,ooo. The lot on the
other side of South avenue of the same size, being that on which the
Charter House now stands, was sold to Daniel T. Hawkins and the
consideration paid for that lot and a 20 foot lot on Third street, convey-
ed by the same deed was $240. Three contiguous lots on the south
side of Front street opposite the Court House Square having an aggre-
gate front of 60 feet and extending in depth 1 50 feet to Jasper street
were purchased by Jacob Smedley for $180. Two others on Olive St.,
opposite the middle of the square with a frontage of 40 feet and a depth
of 175 feet to Plum street, brought Si 24. and a lot with the same front-
age and a depth of 125 feet at the southeast corner of Front and Olive
streets, afterwards built on by Charles D, Manley, brought $105.
Other lots brought varying prices according to location, some of them
as low as $30 each. Many of the best citizens of the county attended
the two sales held by the commissioners, and became competitors in the
bidding — not a few of them with the intention of building sooner or
later, and others with a view to holding as an investment merely.
Notwithstanding that the plan adopted by the county described this
ground as located in the Borough of Media, the commissioners in the
deeds executed by them to the purchasers uniformly described the lots
conveyed as located in the "Town of Providence," and this whether the
deeds were executed before or after the incorporation of the borough.
Providence was the name, by which it had been decided after much dis-
cussion that the incipient town was to be called, until the charter settled
it otherwise.
The actual incorporation of the borough was effected by a long Act
of Assembly approved on the eleventh of March, 1850, whereby the
inhabitants residing within the limits particularly set forth in the Act,
and which contained about 520 acres, were erected into "a body politic
in fact and in law under the name and title of The Burgess and Town
Council of the Borough of Media." "Thirty-three sections of this Act
provided in great detail ample powers for the government of the munic-
ipality at that time and expressly confirmed the plan of survey of Sept.
3, 1849 (which although approved by the commissioners can hardly be
said, prior to this Act, to have had legal sanction), and enacted that all
the streets, lanes, alleys and roads laid down and marked on it should
be deemed, judged and taken to the public highways, as well as those
within the borough limits laid out or designated on plans or plots by
any persons who had laid out streets or roads other than those
on the commissioner's plan. This last provision was undoubtedly in-
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40 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
tended in the main for that large part of the borough south of State
street, then principally owned by John Hill, but which soon passed into
the ownership of H. Jones Brooke, a well known and public spirited
resident of Radnor township, who removed to the property so purchased
by him, and for many years took a leading part not only in the affairs of
the borough, but in those of the county and the Commonwealth also.
But the unique feature of this charter, and one that distinguished it from
that of any other in the State of Pennsylvania, was its 34th section,
which provides that it shall not be lawful for any person to sell intoxi-
cating liquors within the borough limits except for medicinal purposes
or for use in the arts under penalty of indictment and fine ; and further
that it shall not be lawful for the Court of Quarter Sessions to grant a
license for such sale to any inn or tavern within the borough. This pro-
vision was the result of the direct and vigorous efforts of a large num-
ber of the most prominent citizens of the county, many of whom were
active members of a strong organization known as the Sons of Temper-
ance. These men impressed by the disastrous effects of the habits
of intemperance which had prevailed in years past, and against
which the numerous temperance societies established throughout
the county at this time constituted the natural reaction, thought to give
ocular proof of the value of their principles by providing that in one
community at least the open sale of intoxicating drinks should be forever
forbidden. The effect of this provision has been much discussed and it
has even been maintained by some that this feature of our charter has
been a drawback upon the prosperity of the town, but I fancy that a
large majority of our citizens are satisfied that the experiment of a half
century ago has ripened into demonstration that it has been no less ben-
eficial than successful in its operation, and that the prosperity which a
backward step would now bring is not of the kind that would make for
happiness either in their hearts or their homes.
However well planned it may be, the growth of a new community is
in the nature of things slow. The foundations of Media had been laid
deep and strong, but the wilderness cannot be made to blossom in a day.
Besides the old Friend's Meeting House on Providence Road and the
dozen or so of other buildings within the verge of the new town at the
time of its incorporation, there was nothing but the most rural of aspects
in every direction. When the commissioners in the autumn of
1849, invited the citizens of the county to be present at their first
sale of lots, the place selected for holding the sale was in a corn field
on the north side of the State road, about where the Charter House
now stands. In order to make room for the numerous vehicles of
those who came from far and near to attend the sale, it was necessary
to remove quite a number of shocks of the recently cut corn from
that part of the field. The town had been set down as it were in the
open fields — its few residents comparative strangers to each other and
still greater strangers to the work of building up a municipal body
which should develop wisdom and strength in promoting the common
welfare, and the individual happiness of its citizens. So few were its
residents competent to serve in the Borough Council at the time of
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 4l
the first election of members that some of them were chosen from be-
yond the borough limits.
It was almost exactly two years from the date, when the location of
the new public buildings was fixed upon, to the date of their completion
in May, 1851 — when the Court House was ready to receive the public
records and the jail its prisoners. If the present Court House
were shorn of its wings, and of the extension on the rear, which em-
braces the present offices of the Recorder of Deeds and Register of
Wills, you would have substantially the Court House, as it was at that
time and as it remained until the year 1871, when the first extensions were
made. The court room was smaller than at present, a corridor extend-
ing across the second story front, above which was a gallery opening
into the court room. The front of the jail, including what is known as
the Sherift's house, remains essentially as it was when completed, but
the part devoted to the detention of convicts has been from time to time
improved and extended, so that it now conforms to the standards of the
best regulated penal institutions, both in capacity and internal arrange-
ment. A curious feature of the plan of Media, prepared by the com-
missioners, to which I have referred, is that on it was laid out the Court
House Square, being a plot of ground 500 feet long by 240 feet wide,
bounded by streets, and a plot at the southwest corner of Front and
Orange streets, intended for a public market, but no ground was allotted
on it for the erection of a jail. The explanation of this is that it was at
first intended to erect the jail in the northwest section of the Court
House Square, and it has come down to us as reliable tradition, that a
cellar for the building was actually dug there before the commissioners
were brought to realize the inappropriateness of the location. The result
was that they located the jail where it now stands, and when it was sub-
sequently extended it became necessary for them to repurchase some of
the lots which they had previously sold. The public market allotment
was afterward sold to private parties, who have always devoted it to the
purposes for which it was intended. Much remained to be done after
the acceptance of the public buildings from the contractors, both out-
side and in. The enclosing of the Court House Square and the paving
around it — no unimportant matters — were still under way and a cor-
responding condition of incompleteness appeared in many directions.
The highways were unpaved — there were no public lights, and no water
supply, except from wells. Many who are yet living, will recall the de-
plorable condition of the streets in the winter and spring months, not
only at the time I refer to, but for several years later. As late as 1866,
the only artificial pathway along the country road, called by courtesy
Orange street, between Washington street and the railroad station, was
one sidewalk, consisting of three boards in width laid end to end, and
frequently out of place. You may imagine that with no gas to light
him at night, and such pit falls in his path, there was less temptation
than now for the average citizen to frequent the late trains.
The first session of Court in Media, was held on the fourth Monday
in August, 185 1. A great crowd was in attendance. The court room
although smaller than at present seemed in comparison with the old
one at Chester, large and commodious. Judge Henry Chapman pre-
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4^ SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
sided and, happening to be present, I well remember the remarks in which
that dignified and much respected jurist complimented the citizens of
the county upon coming into possession of their new and beautiful
Court House. It was also a great step from the contracted and crowded
quarters in Chester to the fire-proof offices in the new Court House. The
first floor of the building was divided into separate offices about twenty
feet square, each one corresponding in size with the quadrilateral arches
which may now be observed in the ceiling of the prothonotary's office.
The present office of the prothonotary alone consists of three of these
smaller rooms thrown into one. And yet at that period all of the
county offices of Prothonotary, Clerk of the Quarter Sessions, Clerk of
CHARTER HOUSE IN 1855.
the Orphans' Court, Recorder of Deeds and Register of Wills, were held
by one incumbent and he kept all of the records of these several offices
in two of those small rooms ; the others, except those occupied by the
County Commissioners and the Sheriff being rented to lawyers for use
as their private offices. Nothing could better illustrate the growth of
Media between that day and the present than the analagous develop-
ment of the accommodations in and about this Court House, made dur-
ing the same period to meet the growing public needs.
It would be impossible in the time allotted me to give a detailed ac-
count of the buildings erected in these early years of the life of the
borough. The very first was the large brick store built by John C.
Beatty on the lot purchased by him from the county at the corner of
State street and South avenue, now temporarily occupied by the First
National Bank of Media pending the erection of its new banking house
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 4^
opposite. It was begun in 1849 ^^^ completed before the borough was
incorporated in 1850. Although now somewhat dwarfed by comparison
with larger and more ornate buildings near by, it was considered at the
time a most imposing structure and it is well within the limits of truth to
say that the other buildings erected by the founders of the town were of
the same substantial kind, and that these early enterprises gave that char-
acter and direction in the future development of the place which have
made our borough what you see it to-day, a most attractive and in-
viting place of residence. The Charter House Association organized in
1850 to build a hotel to be conducted upon principles in harmony with
the 34th section of the Charter and composed mainly of the same prom-
inent citizens who had secured the enactment of that section, pushed
their project forward with such vigor that by the middle of 185 1, the
hotel was finished and rented to D. Reece Hawkins, who for twenty
years thereafter (with short interruptions) conducted it as a living dem-
onstration that the public can be acceptably accommodated without
the adjunct of a bar for the sale of intoxicating drinks — a derqonstration
continued by his successors to the present day.
The early building operations were carried on with such energy that
within three years there were fifty-seven new dwelling houses completed,
making the total number in the town, including the old farm houses,
about seventy, and the total number of buildings of all kinds ninety-
four, being more than the number in Chester at the end of the first cen-
tury and a half of its existence.
It must be remembered that at this time the railroad from Philadelphia
had not yet been completed to Media, and that only public method of
conveyance to and from the town was by the stage line to Chester es-
tablished by that pioneer liveryman, Wessel C. Brodhead, and an inter-
mittent line to Howellville.
According to that industrious chronicler of our local history, Mr.
Ashmead, there were in the town in 1853 two stores which combined
the sale of dry goods and groceries, a shoe store, a trimming store, a
drug store and an inn, a printing office, a post office and a schoolhouse,
and the tradesmen who carried on business here included two tailors,
three blacksmiths, one wheelwright, one coachmaker, one tinsmith,
one saddler, one stonecutter, one bricklayer, one stonemason, two
painters, two cabinet makers, three carpenters, one plasterer and one
butcher, while the learned professions were represented by five lawyers,
three physicians and one dentist. The senior among the members of
the Bar at that time was Edward Darlington, Esq., who had moved his
office from Chester to Media about the time the records were brought,
and who continued in the active practice of his profession here until his
advancing years enforced his retirement from its exacting duties. He
had represented this district in Congress for two terms during the excit-
ing times when the secession idea was taking form under the guidance
of Calhoun, and was brought into contact with all the great men who
then took part in our national affairs. It was my privilege to know him
well, and it is my pleasure now to testify to the respect in which he was
held by the citizens of this county as a conscientious and safe counsellor
and a sincere, earnest and able advocate. Not less well known and
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44 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
widely esteemed was Dr. Joseph Rowland, who for upwards of fifty years
was the genial and beloved physician and friend of great numbers o
families both within and without the borough. Of his fidelity in thef
practice of his profession it gratifies me to be able also to speak from
personal knowledge. In the next year, 1854, John C. Beatly, who had
displayed much enterprise in promoting the interests of the borough in
many directions, purchased forty-six acres of the southern part of the
Poor House farm for $250 per acre, and by sub-dividing it into lots,
which were offered for sale to the public after having himself erected
several substantial buildings, he gave a marked impetus to the growth of
that part of the town.
The year 1854 also brought the railroad, and with it increased energy
in many directions. The corner stones of the Methodist and Presbyte-
rian Church buildings were laid and the latter building was completed
the next year. Thomas Griffith opened a private school in the second
story of the large store building erected by Isaac Haldeman at the cor-
ner of State and Olive streets in which school Ex-Senator William Henry
Sutton of Montgomery County was for a short time employed as a
teacher. Rev. Samuel W. Gayley also established a boarding school
for boys and continued its successful operation until his death. The
office of County Superintendent of Schools was established in 1854, and
teachers' institutes were held in Media semi-annually during the next
succeeding six years, since which time they have been held here annu-
ally. The extension of the public school system to Media as a separate
school district was not, however, effected until the year 1856. Prior to
that a small brick school house had been built and in that year a .some-
what larger frame building was erected for the same purpose. A year
later Joseph Addison Thomson was appointed a teacher. In 1859 the
present site of the public school house on Olive street was purchased
and on it was erected a brick building then thought to be ample for the
purpose, but which was replaced by one much larger in 1883, and this
in its turn being found inadequate, has been remodeled and enlarged
into the commodious structure which you see there to-day ; and the pub-
lic necessities have been still further responded to by the erection of a
large additional school building in the eastern part of the borough.
On January ist, 1874, the present constitution of Pennsylvania went
into effect, one of the provisions of which made women eligible to any
position of management or control under the school laws of the State,
and it is worthy of commemoration that the school district of Media
was the first in the county and probably in the Commonwealth to avail
itself of this privilege by choosing as a member of the board Mrs. Mal-
vina Fairlamb of this borough.
Coincident with the establishment of Media as a school district, was
the erection of that famous school for young ladies, Brooke Hall Female
Seminary, which under the efficient management of its principal, Miss
Eastman and her corps of teachers, extending over a period of 33 years
attracted pupils from far and wide. The wife of the President of the
United States is one who bears in kindly remembrance the pleasant and
instructive days passed by her at this institution. Other schools of merit
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 45
were established at later dates, but it is beyond my province to give a
detailed account of then. I may mention, however, the Media Academy,
founded in 1872, by Miss Anna Mary Walter (now Mrs. Thomas H.
Speakman,) and which she relinquished after many )'ears of successful
administration, to become a techer, and later on principal of the Girls'
Department of Friends' Central School, at Fifteenth and Race streets, in
Philadelphia ; also the well-equipped boarding school, conducted at the
Haldeman House, established in 1874 by S. C. Shortlidge, and two day
schools under the charge of Friends.
The public water works were inaugurated in 1855, but only in a mod-
est way. They were built under contract by Joseph Strode, and the
power employed for forcing up water, consisted of a hydraulic ram of
extraordinary size — as I am reliably informed, one of the only two of that
size ever constructed — located on the small stream now called Broomall's
run. A steam engine subsequently took the place of the ram for the
purpose of increasing the supply. Since then the sources of supply
and facilities for the distribution of water have been enlarged and in-
creased from time to time, until now the borough has a pardonable pride
in the abundance and purity of this indispensable adjunct to the godli-
ness of its people.
In the same year (1855) was established the Delaware County Ameri-
can^ a weekly journal well known to all of us. It had of course its
early struggles, and although there have been some changes in its
ownership, these have not affected its relations to the pubic and it has now
attained a position not only of stability but of marked influence in the
community. Except during a period of less than three years it was
the only newspaper successfully published in Media until the year 1876,
when the Delaware County Record came into existence. This journal
too, has survived the early struggles incident to all journalistic enter-
prises, but these have not deterred the establishment of a third competi-
tor for public favor, the Media Ledger^ now safely past its ninth year of
probation.
In 1858, the corner stone was laid of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
on Orange street, and it was consecrated about two years later as Christ
Church. Notwithstanding the delay in erecting this building, the re-
ligious body which worships there had maintained an organization from
early in 1853, meeting sometimes in the Court House and occasionally
in the Methodist Church. Somewhat later, came the Roman Catholic
Church building (now used as a Sunday School room,) on Franklin
street, which has since been superseded by a much larger and more
commodious edifice. In 1872, a Baptist Church was erected at Third
and Jackson streets, and in 1875, a Friends' Meeting House on Third
street at the north end of North avenue.
An institution closely associated from the date of its organization in
September, 1852, up to the present time, with the history of the bor-
ough, is the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company. The steady
increase in the business of this corporation has had a corresponding
growth in the confidence of the community, and it is to-day regarded as
one of the staunchest corporate bodies in the county. It goes without
saying, that it has been of great advantage to our borough to have it with
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46 SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
US, and especially to have it erect as its permanent home, the neat and
attractive building at the corner of Front street and South avenue, in
which office it has since 1873 been located. Another early institution,
which had no small share in promoting the prosperity of the town, was
the Media Loan and Building Association, organized in 1854. Its pru-
dent management gave it an enviable character for stability, and this in
turn, was reflected most advantageously in furthering the spread of im-
provements. This character has been maintained by its successor up
to the present time.
The picturesque location of our town at an elevation of from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred feet above tide has given it a deserv-
ed reputation as an attractive and healthful summer resort. Towards
maintaining this reputation the Chestnut Grove Honse erected by Mr.
Brooke soon after the opening of the railroad, and later on, Idlewild,
erected by D. Reese Hawkins, and the Haldeman House by I. Lawrence
Haldeman have been valuable contributions. An incident connected
with the history of the Chestnut Grove House was its occupancy by
Swarthmore College during the year after the disastrous fire in 188 1,
which destroyed the main College building.
The decade commencing with the year i860 and embracing the period
of the Civil War witnessed a very decided progress in the material ad-
vancement of the borough. The First National Bank, now one of the
most successful in the United States, was organized in 1864 and located
in the second story of the Haldeman building at the corner of State and
Olive streets. After six years of prudent and careful management it
was removed to the corner of State street and South avenue, where it
has since remained, gradually acquiring in a quiet way that financial
strength which is reflected in the government reports and in the price of
its shares. Its new bank building now nearly completed on this site is
pre-eminent alike for its fitness and beauty of design.
The extension of banking requirements has of late years called into
being two additional moneyed institutions, the Charter National Bank
and The Media Title and Trust Company, both well patronized and re-
garded with favor by our citizens.
In 1867 the Delaware County Institute of Science which had been or-
ganized a generation before, erected a new building on South avenue
and moved there from its old quarters near the Rose Tree. It has al-
ways exercised a salutary influence among our people in promoting the
spread of information on scientific and kindred subjects, none the less
effective because of its quiet and unostentatious methods of freely dis-
seminating instruction along its special lines of inquiry.
During the period under consideration large expenditures were made
in improving the streets, and several new dwelling houses were erected.
The business of the town expanded materially both in its extent and va-
riety, and this movement has now ripened and borne fruit in the various
admirable enterprises of our merchants of to-day. Not only are we lib-
erally supplied with every necessity and every comfort for domestic use,
but we have those among us who can and do furnish both ourselves and
residents of the suritounding country with materials of every kind nec-
essary for the erection and ornamentation of homes, and we have besides
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 47
expert mechanics adequate to any undertaking. Our markets, too, are
well and abundantly supplied with every necessity and with all the lux-
uries that it is well for any people to have.
The circumstance which contributed more than any other to invigo-
rate the spirit of improvement in our town, was the purchase and sub-
division of the Poor House farm in 1871. This large body of land
which hemmed in the improved sections of the borough on the north
and east remained intact, except the southern part of it, which had been
conveyed to John C. Beatty as before mentioned, and some detached
lots. The remainder was sold at public sale in one body by the Directors
of the Poor in the autumn of 1855. In the ensuing spring it was con-
veyed to the purchaser, David Milne of Phila., who also acquired some ad-
OLD SOUTH AVENUE ROW.
joining tracts, and then conveyed the whole, amounting to 141 acres, to
his two sons. None of these owners opened up the property or put it
to any practical use. The old county house, a large stone building 100
feet long, located where the Haldeman House now stands, was rented
out to a number of families, mostly colored, and from this fact acquired
the soubriquet of The Continental, by which it was known for many
years. At first the assessment of this land for taxation was low, but it
was gradually increased until it stood for the year 1870 at ^27,700.
The valuation was then abruptly increased for the year 1871 to ^75,000
and the owners promptly appealed from the assessment to the Commis-
sioners, protesting that this was more than the property would bring at
a fair sale. The late John M. Broomall happened to be standing by
when the appeal was being heard and said to Mr. Milne that if he would
take the amount at which it was assessed, he (Mr. Broomall) thought he
could find a purchaser for the property. Mr. Milne expressing his will-
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48 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
ingness to sell at that figure, Mr. Broomall started in quest of others
who would be willing to join him in the purchase. In assuming this at-
titude, Mr. Broomall was not acting altogether unadvisedly. He, as well
as certain other public spirited citizens, had often chafed because the ex-
tension of improvements over the best land within the borough limits
had been effectually blocked by the impassable barrier which for years
was presented by this large holding, and some of them had from time to
time conferred together as to the possibility of acquiring it upon terms
that would warrant the risk of such a large undertaking. In less than
an hour, as the story goes, Mr. Broomall had secured the formation of a
small syndicate ready and indeed anxious to secure the property at the
figure named, and the bargain was soon closed. Besides Mr. Broomall
the syndicate was composed of Edward A. Price, Esq., to whom the title
was conveyed, and Messrs. Thomas J. Haldeman and I. Lawrence Hal-
deman. Of these Mr. Price is the sole survivor, and we are glad to have
him taking part in to-day's exercises. Immediately after the survey and
division of this land into lots these gentlemen exposed large numbers of
the lots at public sale with a most gratifying result. Tney also made a
division of certain lots among themselves with an agreement that they
would respectively erect a number of dwelling houses thereon for the
purpose of stimulating others to build, and this contract was substan-
tially carried out. The result of this operation was appreciable from the
first in opening up eligible sites for building purposes, and later on its
effect in expanding the improved portions of the borough to the north-
ward and eastward has been quite marvelous.
A matter of interest worthy of remembrance in connection with this
purchase, is the direct and important bearing it had upon securing for the
borough its present source of supply of water, and the improvement and
extension of the water works. Water was then taken, as has been stated,
from the small stream, now called Broomall's run. Immediately after the
purchase, these gentlemen, finding that this supply was or would soon
be inadequate to meet the necessities incident to their enterprise, pur-
chased from Lewis Palmer, the mill and water power on Ridley Creek,
formerly owned by Wm. L. Lewis, the title being taken as before by
Mr. Price. Steps were at once taken to install a plant and lay pipes
therefrom, in order to obtain a supply of water which would be inde-
pendent of the borough system. A strong public sentiment was aroused
by this action, as it now became apparent that the borough would in the
course of time, need a larger supply of water than it was then get-
ting, and a town meeting was held in the Court House, for the purpose
of considering the subject. After considerable discussion, a resolution
was passed, recommending that the council purchase from the syndicate
this water power, which had been offered to the borough at cost. After
an analysis had been made, under the direction of council, showing the
water to be suitable for drinking and domestic purposes, the offer was
accepted, and new works were erected, under the supervision of Isaac S.
Cassin, as engineer.
The borough thus acquired at moderate cost, an assured source of
supply of water of excellent quality, adequate for many years to come.
The significance of this cannot be too highly appreciated, especially
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 49
when our rates are contrasted with those of some of our neighbors
throughout the country, who get their supply from other sources and
Hbvc no better water at rates less favorable.
Since then the progress of the town has been steady, not only to the east
and north, but to the south and west as well. Many new and handsome
dwellings have been erected, an electric light plant installed, the streets
improved, and the main thoroughfares relaid with modern pavements of
the best quaility, a steam fire engine and hook and ladder truck pur-
chased, and a new and beautiful town hall erected. Nor has our social
development been neglected. Beside the church guilds and other semi-
social bodies we have at least three clubs, two of men and one of women.
Of the former one is purely social and owns the handsome club house
erected by it at the corner of Washington street and South avenue. The
other is political. The Women's Club of Media, has for its object the
furtherance of all good works, and its motto **labor omnia vincit," forci-
bly expresses both the method and the results of the combined efforts of
its members for social and educational advancement.
Of the founders of Media there is but one left among us. I have al-
ready refered to some of those who took an active, part in shaping its
destinies at the beginning and in promoting its growth and welfare after-
wards. Of the others, Isaac Haldeman had a conspicuous part. Al-
ready 52 years of age and ten years a resident merchant here before the
borough was created, he served 18 years in its council, of which he was
president, always with an eye single to its welfare, and with the same
fidelity to its interests which he ever manifested in his private affairs.
Soon after the incorporation of the borough, he erected the large double
brick store and dwelling at the northwest corner of State and Olive Sts.,
and removed his business to that place from its former location on the
property now owned by Dr. Stellwagen. He was the first president of
the First National Bank, and continued to serve in that capacity until his
death in 1878. He has left an honored name intimately associated
with the history and well being of the borough.
Charles D. Manley, first borough solicitor and second Burgess of
Media, moved here from Chester in 185 1. He was also a representative
in the Legislature during one term, and served two terms in the borough
council. His clear and conservative views were always of service in the
exercise of his official duties, and at all times his genial temperament
made approach to him for the purpose of getting his advise on public
affairs easy and pleasant.
Jacob Smedley first borough surveyor and Nathan Shaw who served
in the first council were both men of sterling worth and unblemished
reputation Rdlph Buckley too who came somewhat later was one of
our most enterprising citizens and did much good work in furthering the
growth of the borough.
Two other well known and respected citizens of the town, Samuel
P. Rush and Willian Seal are among the few survivors of its very first
residents. Of their fidelity to the duties of citizenship it is unnecessary
to speak to this audience.
It is not however my intention to write a biography of the men who
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50 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
laid the ground work of the borough. But there is one of them still with
us who has been so intimately associated with its history from the very
start that any account ol it would be incomplete which should omit his
name from the record, although his modesty may cause him to shrink
from any allusion to him on this occasion. I refer to Charles R. Wil-
liamson. Mr. Williamson in 1850 secured two lots at the southeast
corner of Front and Orange streets and immediately set about the erec-
tion on them ol a large double brick dwelling house and store which
at that time was considered a most imposing structure. Hemovedlhere
in 1851, and carried on his business at that place for many years. No
one man has had more to do with shaping the lile and activities of the
borough than he. He served in the borough council from March 5; 1851
to March 7, 1887, a period of thirty-six consecutive years and was its
president during the last nineteen years of that time. He also served
three years and upwards as postmaster, and resigned that position 10 be-
come county Treasurer. In 1863, he was appointed an associate Judge
of the County courts, for the unexpired term of Judge Hinkson. He has
been a director of both the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Com-
pany, and of the First National Bank, from their respective formation to
the present time. These facts attest with greater emphasis than any
words 1 could use, that he has always gone hand in hand with our munic-
ipal progress and has had a longer and more prominent part in the
faithful service of his fellow citizens of Media than any other living man.
Media has also had its share of quaint characters. Some of you have
doubtless heard a story which has come down to us of one of our early
settlers who received an appointment as tipstaff of the court. On
one occasion during a discussion on some point of law the
Judge told this official to go and bring Purdon. The tipstaff de-
parted on his errand. After a considerable absence he returned
in a siate of breathlessness and agitation and reported to the Court that
he had hunted through all the offices and in and about the Court House,
but could not find Mr. Purdon- This explanation so disturbed the grav-
ity of the Court and of the members of the Bar that some time elapsed
before it could be explained to the embarrassed official that it was not a
delinquent citizen who was wanted, but only that legal classic called
Pardon's Digest.
In all that goes to make up a progressive yet conservative municipal
and social organization the borough of Media is now fully abreast ol any
other community of its kind in the State. The late Burgess, in his ad-
dress when ret iiing from office, referring to the borough government,
said that the members of its councils have always been men of affairs.
Certain it is that its affairs have been so managed and the conditions
have been such that we may assume as logical results our many advan-
tages, and chief among them our moderate tax rate and our adequate
supply of pure water at a low charge. Adding to these our unrivalled
situation, well improved streets lighted by electricity, and guarded by
policemen, frequent trains in both directions, two trolley lines, telegraph
and telephone connections, gas, a .steam fire engine and appliances, ex-
cellent postal arrangements, a great variety of stores and business places,
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 5 1
well supplied markets, abundance ol schools of all grades, and churches
of all the leading denominations, we should continue to be a happy, con-
tented and prosperous people.
Not less important than these material advantages is the fact that our
citizens mainly own the houses in which they live, that these homes have
become centres of intellectual activity — of reading and thinking — of
discussion of the thoughts of others gleaned from books or from the
daily press — or heard in the church or the lecture room. I speak not of
the wealthy alone but of the great army of producers — the backbone of
every community and of every Commonwealth.
It is the broadening and manifolding ol this idea of home that distin-
guishes the people of to-day from their ancestors of two centuries ago.
Few ol that time owned or ever hoped to own the houses that shielded
them and theirs Irom the summer sun or winter's cold. Now there is no
self-respecting man, however humble, who does not long for and cherish
the hope that sooner or later he will possess the dwelling place of him-
self and his family. If he succeeds, he seeks to have it located where
there will be neighbors and friends. He desires that both he and his
shall be part and parcel of the community in which they dwell. The
law of segregation which prevailed in the olden time no longer obtains.
The idea that each man's house shall be his castle still holds its place
but not in the sense that it once had. It no longer suggests attack and
defence,5erfdom and vassalage, rapine and slaughter, with all their dis-
tressful concomitants, but rather the hospitable entertainment of friends
and neighbors, the commingling with those about us and the playful in-
tercourse of children. The dwelling place must now be convenient to
the church and the school. But above all it must contain within itself
the forms and appliances which the experience of our friends and neigh-
bors suggests for the comfort of our family and foi convenient associa-
tion with others. Every modern-built residence, be it manor house or
cottage, has its best room and its best furnished room dedicated exclu-
sively to the exercise of social functions, to the hospitable entertainment /
of friends, to the daily mingling of men and women in all the varied
forms of genial intercourse — contrasting strongly with the habits and
customs of two centuries ago. Men of all classes are now closer to each
other than formerly, and that which aflfects one concerns the whole.
Elach one by reason of the force of his surroundings in these modern
times of material and intellectual activity has unconsciously become a
member of the entire community in which he lives, with a humane in-
terest in and regard for all. Certain visionary progagandists call this a
tendency towards socialism and rejoice that their dreams of a universaf
brotherhood may some day be fulfilled. Perhaps it is so, but that end is
not yet. Like the "adaptation" of species to a new environment, which
the biologists tell us about, the ambition and personality of the individual
man may in the course of vast stretches of time become subjected to and
fused in the will of the general mass, but if that is to be so, the evolution
is so distant that we need take no thought respecting it to-day. There
is no doubt however that this gravitating of the human race has devel-
oped certain socialistic institutions among us, and startling as it may
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52 SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
seem to those who have not given thought to the subject — and especi-
ally to those who are frightened by the sound of the word, two of our
best conducted and most valued institutions are purely and absolutely
socialistic m their origin and development — institutions more closely
interwoven With the lives, habits and daily experience of our citizens
than any other ; institutions, the blotting out of which would spread a
pall over the entire land, and bring dismay to every household. 1 refer
to the post office and to the common school. If analyzed it will be seen
that each of them contributes its benefits equally to every citizen and
that neither of them contains any element of individual enterprise.
Both are managed by and at the charge of the State only, and lor the
equal benefit of all its citizens. In the century just closing and more es-
pecially in the half century covered by the life of this borough, the devel-
opment and growth of these two systems has been prodigious and there
is none among us who would subtract from their beneficent operation
in any degree whatever, or who expects aught than the continued in-
crease of their benefactions. Our '»adaptation," — by no means perfect at
first. — to these crystallizations of human thought, has become so, and an-
other half century, which may well be within the experience of some
who hear me to-day may witness other emanations of the social order
which will be equally beneficial and equally welcome.
It is not for me however to cast our horoscope. I am not an astrolog-
er much less a prophet. The province of divining our future has been
assigned to One whose inspiration as a seer will be aided by His wisdom
and long experience in dealing with men and their affairs. Albeit I will
venture to predict that He may tell us this much ; if we pursue the good
with all our might and eschew the evil, if we do the things we ought to
do and avoid the things we ought not todo we .shall continue to prosper,but
if we depart from the straighforward course marked out by our own ex-
perience in the past, and by our own sen«e of rectitude, while we may
still flourishfor a time, it will be with us as with the wicked man in
power who spreads himself like a green-bay tree, but soon passes away,
and when sought for is not found.
M— ^•►-♦^
riedia's Future.
Address of Col. A. K. McClure.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : —
. There is eminent fitness in the popular celebration of the semi-centen-
nial of your county seat. It is the fountain of order, of protection to
person and property and of the general good government of your com-
munity. Here is the temple of justice ; here is the sanctuary of the law,
and here all look to the beneficent power of our free government that
maintains the rights of the humblest citizen.
I well remember the earnest and bitter contest made for the removal
of your county scat. Like all such local conflicts it railed out the most
intense asperities because it involved a vast measure of individual inter-
est. Next to church and 'amily quarrels, local disputes about the divi-
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 53
sion of counties and the location of county seats are among the most
difficu t to reconcile. It seems grotesque, looking back a century or
more from the standpoint of the present, to find the venerable city of
Chester on the extreme southern line ol the county bringing the people
of what are now Delaware and Chester counties to that county seat lor
the transaction of all legal business.
The first rift in the harmony lute was long and jarring, and resulted in
the creation ol a new county, and that was lollowed by the protracted
agitation for a more central county seat in Delaware The people of your
county seemed to take the practical and utilitarian idea of locating their
temple of justice They decided to locate it in the center of the com-
munity, and that center was literally and scientifically ascertained, but
unfortunately it would have planted the county seat in a neighboring
mill dam. The good people of that day thought it best to avoid the
literal execution of the purpose of the people, and instead of locating
the court house where it could have been made accessible by both land
and water, they chose the beautfiul and heartsome hills which are within
and about your beautiful Borouj^h. The spirit of the central idea was
fairly and fully carried out, and you have had^the advantage of entirely
creating a town in symetry of form and all the beauty of modern con-
ception. It is healthful, has a pure and abundant water supply ; its homes
have all the inviting features of rural hospitality, and there is the absence
of dilapidation that is so common in the older towns.
I well remember the general criticism that the charter of your county
seat invited. The name gave poetic expression to the peace that follow-
ed long-continued and unfriendly agitation, and the charter is unique in
declaring that no hotel or saloon shall be licensed to sell liquor within
the jurisdiction of Media. How far it has promoted sobriety I do not
care to discuss. I have noticed the ever-present fragments of bottles
which line the pathway from here to Chester, and have sometimes
thought that well-regulated licensed houses in Media would avoid the un-
restrained and often riotous marches beyond its gates to quench the
thirst of the lover of beer and strong drinks. But it is denominated in
your charter that the licensed hotel and saloon shall be unknown in your
midst ; it has become one of the accepted sanctities of the IWough, and
it would require much more than mere logical demonstration to lay vio-
lent hands upon that or any other feature of your organic law.
I am very glad to see this large assembly here to celebrate the fiftieth
anniversary of your county seat. You are not here simply for a day's
frolic, but you are here because each citizen feels that he. his household
gods, and all his interests of person and property are centered in this
town where justice is judicially administered. It is the natural, inborn
love of the American citizen for law and for order, and his pride in the
beneficence of our free government. Here the citizen is sovereign Not
only the rule of your beautiful town, but the rule of your county, of your
State, and of your great nation, is in the people of the land. They make
and unmake Presidents and all other officers who frame and administer
their laws, and they have every inspiration to celebrate every achiev^T
ment that is in the line of enlightened advancement-
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54 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
They are here because they love their homes, their county, their peo-
ple, and have reverence for the fountain of justice. No people of any
nation have such profound sense of equal and exact justice between man
and man as the sovereigns of our great republic. They are not free from
blemish ; their political and public actions olten require criticism, but it
is so with all the peoples of the earth and ours merit it less than any
other. Here the home IS the centre of authority. Its altar is sacred
and from it springs the best influences and offices to shape the destinies
of communities. Where the purity of the home is honored, patriotism is
ever sincerely cherished, and it is from the homes of the land that the best
inspirations go out to our people and lead and inspire them in all the
great conflicts which must at times, be made to preserve nationalty.
The rule of the home goes out to the rule of the community ; that of the
community goes out to the rule of the county ; that of the county goes
out to the rule of the State, and that of the State goes out to the rule of
the nation. They are all ^'distinct as the billows yet one as the sea."
There is no more appropriate occasion than this to impress not only
those who have done their chief life's work, but especially the young
men and women who have an inheritance so priceless as that of our
great free institutions of the United States. Here at the fountain of jus-
tice founded in the liberty of law, we can well take note of the matchless,
progress of our great government, and the grand destiny that is inevita-
bly shaped for the great republic of the world. Rapid as has been the
advancement of the republic during the last half century, those who
shall see another half century and witness the celebration of the centen-
nial of Media, must tell of grander strides in every attribute of the noblest
progress made in the closing year of the nineteenth centur>*.
Our flag now floats not only from eastern to western sea, from North-
ern Lake to Southern Qulf, but it is established in the West Indies and
in the Asiatic waters, never again to be furled where it has been planted
by the heroism of our army and navy. Grave duties have been imposed
upon us by unexpected conditions although unsought by our statesman-
ship. We have become the protector of the helpless who for centuries
were bowed and often broken under the yoke of Spain, and what we
have undertaken the American people will complete 1 here are those
who will resist the inevitable duty and de.«tiny of our nation, but they
will be ground to powder by the patriotic sentiment of 70,000,000 of free
people.
In every element of progress we stand to-day matchless as compared
with the past, and the young people before me to-day, who are soon to
take the responsible places of their fathers and their mothers, are to be
most heartily congratulated that their lots have been cast where the lib-
erty of law is maintained in its majesty, and where the freest, most intel-
ligent, and noblest people of the earth have compelled every nation, even
to the remotest corners of the world, to respect, to honor and largely to
imitate the beneficent institutions established by our own people in the
new world. I congratulate those who have taken part in the progress of
the last half century, and I even more heartily congratulate those who
are to take part in the coming half century. They have been born to a
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 55
world better, purer, nobler and grander than any age of the past. The
last generation has seen in our own land the greatest achievements, alike
in field and forum ; in war and statesmanship. There is nothing in
Grecian or Roman story comparable to the heroism of the Blue and the
Gray, and never in all the history of statesmanship have such grave
problems been solved, and solved in peace and grandeur, as confronted
the statesmanship of this country at the close of our civil struggle.
Schools have multiplied in every section ; colleges are reared in every
part of our land; the church spire is seen in every community, and in-
dustry is to-day honored and requited to an extent never before known
in the history of any people. Thus do I congratulate those of the past
who have built Media and made it beautiful; thus do I congratulate
those who are just coming on the stage of action, who will be charged
with the high and sacred duty of proving to the country and to the world
••that government of people, by the people and for the people shall not
perish from the earth.*'
THE CHARTER HOUSE OF TO-DAY.
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56 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
riedia.
BY BENJAMIN C. POTTS, ESQ.
Sweeter than lays by ancient minstrels sung,
Their harps attuned to Music's martial chords,
Better than chorus from the churches* choirs,
Better than fame of kinghtly deeds or words —
To sing the hymn of homely peace we come,
The Hymn of friendship and the love of home.
We love our woods, our streams, our vales, our skies
We love the wholesome strength that in them lies ;
We love our storms, the lightning, the distress
Which draws us closer to the friends we bless ;
While our lives last we live to love our friends,
When life is ended all that's in it ends.
This is our home : here we may rest secure :
Here the true neighbor knows his neighbor true :
Bach knows his friend as he knows himself
And here the outside worid finds little pelf-
Small to that world, we give it little care ;
We to ourselves are true and to each other are.
Thousands may fill the city's busy marts.
Throngs may there gather with impatient haste,
Commerce and trade may blind them with the arts
Which fascinate the fool, and fool at last :
We live the life of those who love the folks
Who make the hearthstone dear, who love the jokes,
The fireside tales, the evening mirth, the song,
Which make sweet sleep, the night's best gift to man.
We venerate old things, we reverence old men,
And pride ourselves on those whose splendid names
Have made us famous. We will keep ourselves
Honest and true for other fifty years.
That those who must come after us may say
They bless us for the heritage bequeathed.
Up through the ages comes our title to the past,
Down through the ages we must go at last :
A short half century is a respite given,
To those who have in mind a hope of Heaven.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 57
5emi-Centennial Hymn.
BY H. P. GREEN, ESQ.
Tune— «'Sweet Beulah Land."
1 Fair Media ! to thee we raise
Our hearts to-day in grateful praise.
Full fifty fruitful years have been,
Since first thy day was ushered in.
We hail — we bless, thy record bright.
Preserved by law, sustained by right ;
And. proud of all that makes usgreat,
The fullness of the harvest wait.
2 Of all the world we love thee best ;
'Tis here we find the sweetest rest.
The steadfast friend, the neighbor true,
And paths made pleasant to pursue.
Our scenery grrand, beyond compare ;
Our ancient hills, our valleys fair ;
Our babbling brooks, our sunset rays.
All this, and more, we bless and praise.
3 Fair land of homes ! this is our pride ;
Here health and happiness abide ;
Our joys are not by strife destroyed ;
Here love and peace reign unalloyed.
Our maidens fair, our manly swain,
These gifts will cherish and maintain ;
And when our century *s course has run,
Will prize the work so well begun.
4 The wisdom of our pioneers
With passing years more clear appears.
On principles untried, but true,
"They builded better than they knew.*'
Long may we keep our record bright.
Eschew the wrong, support the right ;
And fearless, battle for that cause
Which merits best our God's applause.
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SS SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
Our Dear County Town
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.
BY GEO. w. SMITH, M. D. Tunc — «*The Old Oaken Bucket."
PAST.
1 Dear friends; let us sing of this town midst the highlands ;
Just fifty years since it was started we find ;
Its Charter then granted secured us these tri-bands
Of temperance, and justice, and love to mankind.
A town firmly built upon such a foundation
Soon gained for itself the most happy renown ;
And being the seat of our Court's habitation.
Made this borough at once Our Dear County Town.
Our beautiful Media ; our health giving Media ;
Our much beloved Media ; Our Dear County Town.
PRESENT.
2 This town filled with blessings from nature's consignment,
Stands high on these hill tops, so firm and so bold,
Abounding in beauty, health, wealth and refinement ;
'Tis an ideal home for the young and the old
Then thank the kind Father, who reigns high above us,
For all the great good he has handed us down ;
And take as a token of how he must love us.
To give us this treasure, Our Dear County Town,
Our beautiful Media ; Our health giving Media ;
Our much beloved Media ; Our Dear County Town.
FUTURE.
3 As forward one looks to its future existence.
The eye of the prophet can readily see
A town where vice always shall meet with resistance.
It's people must prosper and happy e'er be.
Then onward and upward with steps never halting,
The star of success shining bright in its crown ;
Fulfilling these fond hopes so high and exalting.
May man always honor, and God bless our Town,
Our beautiful Media ; Our health giving Media ;
Our much beloved Media ; Our Dear County Town,
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 59
MEDIA'S WATER SUPPLY.
The borough of Media at first drew its water supply from the run now
forming Broomall's Lake, but as it grew in size and demand, this was
changed to Ridley Creek. In 1872, prior to the adoption of the State
Constitution of 1873, Thomas V. Cooper, then represented Delaware
county in the House at Harrisburg, secured the passage of a special act,
torever prohibiting the pollution of Ridley Creek at any and all points
above the Media Water Works. As a result this magnificent stream,
rising twenty miles northwest of Media, has ever since been free from
pollution. For this, if for no other reason, it would be the purest source
of extensive supply known to the State. There are other reasons which
go to make it the best, certainly as good as any known supply. Ridley
Creek is fed by many springs along its valley. Where it enters the
county it is but a sparkling run. It grows in breadth and volume as it de-
scends from the hills of Edgmont and Upper Providence, until when it
reaches Media it readily supplies, with no apparent loss to the stream,
an average of 350,900 gallons per day. A million gallons per day could
be as readily pumped, and then the loss would scarcely be appreciable.
The new water works* are built on the west side of the stream, near the
bridge on the Baltimore pike, and just north of the Baltimore Central
Railroad bridge. They nestle in the valley and make a pretty sight from
the railroad or any of the several country roads and hillsides nearby.
The works have a stone base with brick walls, iron and slate roofs, all
substantially built. They consist of an engine and boiler house and
filters. The pumps are the latest improved and are run by a seventy fivs
horse power Corliss engine. There are turbine wheels of thirty horse
power which run the water power pumps and save luel. The reservoir
has a million and a half capacity, and a standpipe of 250,000 gallons
capacity. In addition to the new water works, which were started in
1898 and finished in 1899, a new twelve-inch pumping main was laid a
distance of two thousand feet, connecting with other mains leading to
the basins. These basins are located at the highest point of the 'town,
and give a full force of water to any part thereof, or to the highest story
of any building.
There has never been complaint of lack of water in the driest seasons,
and since the modern system of filtration was introduced by the Borough
Councils, the water has never been discolored, however violent any
storm. This has been wholly true for nearly two years, and clearer or
finer water cannot be found anywhere.
Many analyses have been made, and the highest authorities, including
the local and State Boards of Health, pronounce it unsurpassed by any
water supply with their knowledge. To this fact, more than to any
other, is Media indebted, during all of thirty years, to freedom from any
extended or dangerous epidemic. A number of its citizens who enlisted
for the Spanish war returned with malarial troubles, and some with ag-
gravated forms of typhoid fever, but each and every soldier recovered,
and their recovery was largely traceable to the purity of the water.
So greatly is the purity of this water valued that Wallingford, noted
for the wealth and intelligence of its citizens, secured an Act of the Leg-
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6o SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
islature enabling Media to extend its supply to that beautiful section, and
it has for ten years been supplied by one oi the mains, the Borough de-
riving a satisfactory revenue therefrom.
Ihe Pennsylvania Training School, with fully twelve hundred popula-
tion, draws its supply Irom the Media Water Works. This supply is
filtered, and yields to Media a revenue of II1500 a year.
Media is independent in her water supply, doubly independent through
special legislative protection beyond repeal, and is doubly blessed in the
best water at very low rates. The annual water tax is lighter than that of
any town known with any system half so modern or extensive.
The new water works were started by the borough council in 1871 ,
but were not completely remodeled until 1899 They are now regarded
as complete for some years to come, and adequate for 15000 population.
The Borough Superintendent of Water is George W. Carey, a practi-
cal engineer and plumber, thoroughly up in hydraulics. He is paid an
annual salary, and gives unremitting attention to the work.
The Borough Water Committee for this year consists of Winfield S.
Worrall. Frank I. Taylor and . William F. Lewis. Each and all care-
fully heed every complaint, but complaints are now few and far between.
Media is more fortunate than any other borough in the State in its
water supply, because of unquestioned purity, absolute clearness, splen-
did taste, superabundance of supply and the cheapness of it all. As
compared with the average of boroughs, the water tax on property
owners is quite low. Added to all this is ample protection from fire, the
town being well supplied with modern fire hydrants.
Media's Postmasters and the Location of the Post Office
AT Different Times. — By Albin P. Ottey.
Prior to incorpoiation of Media borough, there was a post office known
as "Providence," and located at the present "Worrall Mansion," north-
west corner of Washington street and Providence Road, then known as
the "Anvil" Hotel, and owned by Peter Worrall. In 1853. Ellis
Smedley was appointed postmaster, the name of the office changed to
Media, and the office established at Smedley's store, northeast corner of
State street and South avenue. In 1857, Chas. R. Williamson was ap-
pointed and the oflSce removed to his store, southeast corner of Front
and Orange streets. In 1858, Mr. Williamson was elected County Treas-
urer, and upon his resignation as postmaster, Thos. M. Williamson was
appointed, and removed the office to his residence, southwest corner of
Orange and Baker Sts. In 1861, Wm T. Innes was appointed and had
the office at his tailor shop on Orange street, a few doors above its
former location, and in the spring of 1865 — having purchased the John
G. Worrall property, on the south side of State street, removed the office
to that place. In the fall of 1865. Joseph G. Cummins was appointed
under the Andrew Johnson administration, and had the office at his book
and stationery store, on the south side of State street. In 1869, Samuel
Dutton was appointed and removed the office to one of the one-story
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 6l
offices on South avenue, near the Court House, afterwards removing it
to the building on State street, next to the First National Bank, where
he remained about three months, when he purchased the dwelling on
State street, next door to the American Office, and removed the office
there. In 1877, Miss Miranda Williamson was appointed, and had the
office on South avenue for a lew months, until Col. Joseph W. Hawley
erected the building on the north side of State street, (next door to the
now large and commodious hardware store, owned by him, and occupied
by Samuel W. Hawley and Henry C. Snowden, Jr ,) when it was re-
moved there. In 1886, Miss Williamson resigned and James C. Hen-
derson, Sr., was appointed by President Cleveland, the office remaining
in the Hawley building. In 1 891, Joseph Addison Thomson was ap-
pointed by President Harrison, the office remaining in the same building
until January 1st, 1892 — where by reason of more commodious quarters
being needed, the office was removed to its present location, on the
southeast corner of State and Plum streets; the building having been re-
modelled and strengthened, and with a new and complete arrangement
of boxes and office room, the improvements were marked and the re-
ceipts of the office increased to such an extent as to make it a first-class
office. The death of Mr. Thomson, which occured on December 19th,
1 891, compelled Capt. Edgar T. Miller to assume charge in the interest
of Mr. Thomson's bondsmen, who continued in office until January 1st,
1893. when Henry C. Snowden, Jr., was appointed by President Harri-
son. He remained in office until 1894, when Emil H oil was appointed
by Mr. Cleveland, (who had become President again.) In 1898, Miss
Harriet F. Gault was appointed by President McKinley, at th^ solicita-
tion of Mrs. McKinley, she having been in former years a pupil at Miss
Eastman's Academy at Media, Miss Gault having been a teacher there at
the time. Miss Gault is at present postmistress.
^•» i ^
Christ (Episcopal) Church.
Some time during the summer of 1853, public worship, according to
the order of the Episcopal Church, was first held in Media. The Rev.
L P. W. Balch. D. D.. then Rector of the church in West Chester, offi-
ciated, the members of the congregation meeting in the Court House,
then recently built. From that time until the organization of the parish,
services continued to be held either in the Court House or in the Meth-
odist Chapel, which was courteously loaned for that purpose. Amongst
the clergymen who officiated during the earlier days of the parish, the
Rev. G. E. Hare and the Rev. B. S. Huntington are remembered.
On August 28th, 1854, a charter incorporating "the Rector, Church
Wardens and Vestrymen of Christ Church of Media," was obtained from
the county court ; and at about the same time the first rector of the
parish, the Rev. S. Hazelhurst assumed charge of the congregation. The
following named gentlemen constituted the original vestr>- of the church:
John Fildes, H. Jones Brooke. Charles D. Manley. Thomas Forsythe,
William Nuzum, Isaac \A'orrall and Wm. Beeby.
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62 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
On May 28th, 1857, the parish was canonically admitted into union
with the Diocesan Convention. On July 5th, 1858, the corner stone of
the present parish church, was laid by the Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, D. D.
The church building was consecrated June 21st, i860, by the Rt. Rev.
Alonzo Potter, D. D.
The church property has been improved exteriorly by the addition of
a bell tower, which was erected by the students of Brooke Hall Semi-
nary, and a f>astoral residence, the generous gift of the late Mrs. J. H.
Hoeckley. Interiorly, the church was entirely remodeled and beautified
about six years ago, and more recently, the parish building at the rear
of the church, was considerably enlarged, to meet the increased paro-
chial demands.
The past rectors of the parish, in the order of their service are as fol-
lows . — the Revs. S. Hazelhurst, H. S. Getz, S. Edwards, S. W. Hallo-
well, W. F. C. Morsell, E. Lounsbury, DeW. C. Byllesby and H. D.
Jones. Rev. A. J. Arnold is the present rector.
The present incumbent assumed charge of the parish February ist,
1894. The following named gentlemen constituted the present vestry :
Messrs. J. Watts Mercur, J. Henry Evans, Wm. H. Cope, W. M. Sharp-
ies, Theo. P. Saulnier, George M. Wharton, R. Tyndale, H. Ashton
Little, S. D. Risley, M. D.
^t <• » i^
Media's Distinguished Dead.
We can give but a passing sketch of the leading citizens of Media,
who have joined the great majority.
Dr. Geo. Smith, the County's ablest historian, though not a citizen of
Media, Was practicaily its founder, being the head of the movement to
change the County Seat from Chester to Media, and in connection with
Rev. James W. Dale, was the author of its Charter. Dr. Smith's History
of Delaware County is able accurate and of great interest. It is still
part of the library of our County's oldest residents. He served in the
State Senate, and actually framed the first common school law, he being
its ablest champion in the Senate, while Thaddeus Stevens secured its
passage in the House.
Rev. James W. Dale, for many years the head of Media's Presbyte-
rian Church, was the author of the prohibitory feature of Media's Charter.
He was noted for his eloquence, and died at a ripe age while in charge
of the Church at Wayne.
John B. Hill owned most of the ground on which Media is built, and
cultivated it as a farm. He lived in what is known as the Brooke
Mansion. He paid but $2^ an acre, and when Media was incorporated
rapidly sold out at great advances. He lived long and quietly, and was
noted for his thrift and industry.
Hon. H. Jones Brooke was an early purchaser of ground in Media,
and was the most active spirit in the construction of its steam railroad,
now known as the Baltimore Central. He twice represented his District
in the State Senate, and with marked ability. He left four sons, all dis-
tinguished in business, two of them still living, Colonel Benjamin and
Hunter. Frank M. Brooke, recently deceased, was District Attorney of
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SEHI-fENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
63
the county. In Philadelphia he became a leading grain merchant in
partnership with his brother Hunter.
Hon. John M. Broomall came to Media from Chester. He had a
national reputation as a member of Congress, beginning his three terms
in 1862. He was also a member of the State Constitutional Conven-
tion in 1873. As a lawyer and orator he had few equals in the State.
Walker Y. Hoopes laid the foundation for his fortune as a country
storekeeper at Lima, and was for many years one of Media's most prom-
inent bankers.
Joseph Ad: Thomson was Media's oldest school teacher, finally its
postmaster, and tor over thirty years the writer of the well-known
•'Steele Penne" letters in the American,
Hon. Edward Darlington, the father of Geo. E. Darlington, Esq , rep-
resented Chester and Delaware Counties in Congress back in the anti-
Masonic times, and was chosen on that ticket. He was one pf Media's
most distinguished lawyers, as was his son-in-law, Joseph P. Morris, who
died before he reached his prime.
Jesse Bishop, after a term as District Attorney, went West, and was
for several years a State Senator and Judge in Illinois.
Among the leading men who first fixed their residence here because
of official duties were, Aaron James, John J. Hall, Thomas Forsythe,
Frank Baker.
The following register of the deaths of Media's leading men and wo-
men has been kept by Albin P. Ottey. It dates from January ist,
1869:—
Age. Date of Deaths.
Wm. C Coates
12-12
1885
Joseph G. Cummins
12-1
1887
Matthew Ash
96 2-5
1895
Cheyney W. Bittle
H. Jones Brooke
J. Wesley Batting
1-12
1871
12.9
1876
42
1880
John M. Broomall, Jr.
712
1884
Nathan Brooke
5*3
1885
1888
Pratt Bishop
3"
Jemima E. Brooke
III
1888
Mary P. Bishop
Rey. DeWitt C. ByUesby
6-12
1889
3-23
1891
Hon. John M. BroomaU
796-3
1894
Wessel C. Brodhead
70 10-9
1894
Ralph Buckley
66 loii
1895
Dr. Daniel G. Brinton
63 6.31
1899
Elijah Cameron
6.15
1869
Lewb Cochran
10-22
1870
Fred. R. Cutler
5-1 1
1873
Jas. R. Cummins, Sr.
10-25
1875
Wm. Cowperthwaite
123
1894
Rev. Jos. Carlisle
92 825
1895
Isaac D. Chalfant
76 510
1897
Mary G. Dale
11-13
1875
Rev. Jas. W. Dale
4-19
1881
Edw. Darlington, Esq.
"•23
1884
Jacob B. Davenger, Sr.
6.14
1891
J. Burchard Dickeson
12 II
1896
Robt. Easunan, Sr.
8^5
1878
Age. Date of Deaths.
Samuel G. Eachus 4-16 1889
Milton Edwards 12-19 1890
Matthew Elliot 11-18 1894
Maria L. Eastman 80 2-17 1895
Mary A. Easby 8-26 1895
Geo. G. Fell 12-7 1876
Frederick Fairlamb 12-26 1878
Jennie Farran 6-23 1880
Dr. Edwin Fussell 3-10 1882
Samuel Fields, Sr. 10-9 1886
Catharine V. Fell 83 1-29 1890
Phaebe Flounders 83 10-24 1890
J. Hamilton Field 8011-20 1893
Rev. W. W. Grimes 67 11 28 1891
Asenath Henderson 4-14 1869
Rev. Samuel Hallowell 5-30 1872
Isaac Haldeman 8 12 1878
Hugh Holmes 10-2 1883
David Hardcastle, Sr. 8-25 1886
John M. Hall 83 1-12 1891
Baldwin Howard 89 1-27 1892
Thos. J . Haldeman 4-4 1894
Walker Y. Hoopes 80 I2X 1895
Mary A. Hoeckley 84 3-23 1898
Mary Hanley 72 12-29 1898
Thos. J. Henderson 9 24 1899
Joseph IliflF 4-14 1874
Lillie H. Parsons Ivison 3-10 1891
Wm. T. Innis 82 12-28 1891
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64
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
' Deaths.
Mary W. James
7-8
1877
Aaron James
8-3
1878
Wm. Jones
1-9
1892
Gustavus Koegler
1 1 25
1878
Thomas J. Kills
I2-I8
1884
Crawford Kugler
1-20
1886
Joseph Kerlin
88 5-6.
1895
Frank J. Kranz
4-28
t899
Geo. Lewis, Sr.
2 22
1870
Samuel C. Long
i-i
[874
Rer. Edw. Lounsberry
10-12 1
878
Isaac C. Litzenberg
9-22
1898
Chas. D. Manley, Esq.,
12-20
1880
Dr. A. W. Malhues
3-23
1886
Levis Miller
86 10-24
1891
Wm. F. MUkey
78 6-30
1894
C H.N.Martel
4-23
1897
Hugh McMunn '
5-20 1
877
Hannah J. McClintock
9-2
1898
Benj. F. Niles
1-8 ]
871
Geo. W. Ormsby
3-20
1883
Chas. Edw. Ottey
1-18
1899
Sarah D. Price
12-5
1870
Job Pitts
John C. Price
9-23
1875
IO-22
[880
Thomas Pratt
35
1883
T^wis Palmer
12-31
1887
T. Gardner Preston
10-10
1890
Mark Packard
80 10-29
1896
Sophia Pitts
90 11-21
1898
James Patchell
84 2-3
1899
Rev. Wm. R. Patton
6-5
1899
AbnimJ. Qqinby
8-30
1890
William F. Mathu-ss
12-13
[894
Wm. Russell, Sr.
8-11
'873
Catharine Reilly
105 IO-3 1
[874
George W. Rigby
8-9 1
[881
Miss Sarah Reese
8-8 1
882
Daniel Rice, Sr.
i-i 1
886
Elizabeth M. Rigby
12-18 1
890
Age. Date of Deaths.
Hon. Thos. Reece
83 3-10
1894
Dr. Jos. Rowland
81 4-29
[895
Terrence Reilly
75 »-»6
[896
John J. Rowlandj
75 5-"6
1896
Wm. Randolph
5-»5
1897
T. Edwin Rorer
2-28
1899
Dr. A. K. SchoU
4-2
1869
Robert Suler, Sr.
9-21
1883
Salem J. Smedley
i-23
1885
Clayton Smith
4-18
1885
Jacob Smedley
9'26
1886
Frank S. Schuchardt
6-15
1893
Clarkson Sheppard
83 10-4
1895
Abram P. Smedley
12-9
1895
Wm. J. Smedley
12-10
r897
Ann Sweeney
12-18
[897
Chas. B. Sprogell
56
1898
Israel L. Thomas
7-"5
1871
Samuel B. Thomas, Esq
7-2
[872
Jos. Addison Thomson
12-19
1891
Wesley G. Worrall
2-16
1873
Peter Worrall, Jr.
'875
Robt. Watkin
2-27
1876
Henry Walls
430
[878
Wm. H. Worrall, Sr.
3-21
[885
Thcs. M. Williamson
12-6
[889
i»ermelia Walker
II-I7
1891
Isaac Worrall, Sr.
4-4
1893
Caleb Webster
78 422
[895
Azariah L. Williamson
93 5-»3
1895
N. F. Walter, Esq.
81 9-4
[895
Jacob Weaver
90 4-14 1
1897
Carrie A. Weaver
1-5 '
[899
Rev. lienry L. Wright
4-21
[899
Caleb Yarnall
3-4
[886
Amor Yarnall
8-24
1887
Edwin E. Bowden
1-12
[900
Henry Green, Esq.
223
1900
Geo. W. Hill
78 3-30 1
[900
Average death rate 17 to 19 per 1000 each year — an exceedingly
low rate in a town showing an unusual number of old people. Total
number of deaths in Media from January 1st, 1869. to January ist
1900—922.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 65
THE MEDIA GAS COMPANY.
This company was incorporated under an Act of Assembly approved April
nth, 1866. The incorporators were : — H. Jones Brooke, Isaac Haldeman,
Wm. V. Black, John M. Hall, Charles R. Williamson, Christian Schur, Isaac
Worrall, Jr., John C. Beatty, John McMullin, James R. Cummins, Dr. A. K.
SchoU, W. C. Brodhead, O. F. Bullard, A. Lewis Smith, E. A. Price, George
G. Fell, Charles D. Manley. Clayton Smith, P. F. Baker, A. W. Mathues,
Wm. T Jones, Thomas Pratt, Jacob Herman Hoeckley, I. L. Haldeman,
Henry Wood, Aaron James, and Joseph G. Cummins.
Of these twenty-six incorporators only six survive, and of these six all still
reside in Media and are active in its business interests. The capital stock
first invested was $20,000, in 800 shares of $25 each. A much greater sum
has been invested through a gradual extension of the works to meet the
necessities of a growing town. The entire sura thus invested is fully
$40,000.
The first officers were : — President, H. Jones Brooke ; Managers, I. L.
Haldeman, C. R. Williamson, E. A. Price, Isaac Worrall, Jr., and D. R.
Hawkins. The Treasurer was Col. Joseph W. Hawley ; Secretary, O. F.
Bullard.
On December nth, 1871, the managers reported to the Company that the
works were in complete order and that the full amount of the capital stock
had been taken and fully paid.
There is one peculiarity in the formation and history of the Media Gas
Company. All of its stock was originally taken by residents and property
owners of the town, and all of it is still held by this class of persons. Each
and every remaining stockholder resides in the town or has property therein
and keeps up his business connections with it.
There were originally eighty stockholders, and there are to-da3' twenty-eight,
all of these being original or representing original stockholders. This illus-
trates the tenacity of the Medes in holding on to honestly managed home
investments, probably better than can be found in the history of any other
corporation living for a generation.
The Company manufactured gas from coal until 1894, when it was changed
to a water gas plant, and has continued the water system ever since. The
light furnished is first-class, and at as reasonable rates as are usual to towns
the size of Media. When the Electric Light Company began operations, the
Media Gas Company for a time ceased to pay dividends, and furnished the
gas at as low as previous rates, keeping up improvements, and giving the
consumers the benefit of what the stockholders lost in the process of out-
growing competition with electric lights. Only recently dividends have
been resumed, but this without any increase in price, and it is the purpose
of the management to reduce the price as rapidly as possible, now that it is
once again on a paying basis. Every dollar expended in labor has been ex-
pended in the town, none being allowed to go out of it, and in this way the
town has been doubly benefitted.
The present officers are : — President, Col. Benjamin Brooke ; Board of
Managers, Charles R. Williamson, Col. Jos. W. Hawley, Horace P. Green,
Dr. Wm. F. Campbell and Hunter Brooke ; Secretary and Treasurer, E. H.
Hall.
5 /"
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66 SEMl-CENtENNlAL SOUVENlR
MEDIA S ELECTRIC LIGHTS.
These are as fine as any in the land, and the history through which they
were obtained is interesting, though not as old as that of some of the other
corporations of the town.
The first eflfort was organized June 6th, 1884, the subscribers and directors
being Wm. F. Miskey, Wm. H. Miller, Ralph Buckley, Swithin C. Shortlid^e
and H. C. Howard, the latter being treasurer. A charter was obtained under
the name of • 'The Media Electric Light, Steam Heating and Steam Motive
Power Company,'* but no definite results were reached. In 1889 Robt. W.
Downing, then and still a resident at Wallingford, and his son Frank T. made
an active canvass for the establishment of a new company, they guaranteeing
its success by an offer to take all unsubscribed shares of stcck. This quickly
led to the incorporation of "The Media Electric Light, Heat and Power Com-
pany," with a capital of $10,000, which capital was the same year increased
to $40,000. The first officers were : President, Henry C. Howard ; secretary,
James G. Cummins ; treasurer, John T. Reynolds ; superintendent, W. J.
Alexander ; directors, Henry C. Howard, Isaac L. Miller, Samuel W. Haw-
ley, John H. Hawkins, S C. Shortlidge, W. R. Newbold, Henry C. Snowden,
Jesse M. Baker and Thomas V. Cooper.
In July, 1889, the contract to build the plant was awarded to M. R.
Muckle, Jr., & Co., and it was promptly completed in the best manner — the
plant being erected adjoining the tracks of the Baltimore Central Railroad,
about 100 yards east of the Media station. In December, 1889, W. J. Alex-
ander actively began his duties as superintendent, and W. R. Fronefield was
elected secretary and solicitor.
The present officers are : President, Frank T. Downing ; secretary and
treasurer, W. R. Fronefield ; superintendent, W. J. Alexander ; directors, R.
W. Downing, Charles G. Downing, W. C. Downing, Frank T. Downing and
R. W. Downing, Jr.
From the start of the works a contract was awarded by the borough to light
the most prominent streets with arc lights, the others with incan descents, and
this has continued without interruption. Most of the stores and dwellings of
the borough are also fully lighted, and the line extends to Wallingford, af-
fording abundant light to that section. The charges are moderate, quite as
low as those of any other borough of like consumption. The quality is also
of the finest.
At first the contract system was almost universally employed, charging a
given sum annually for lamps, but this resulted in loss to the company, the
amount of light used and power expended being far in excess of calculations.
This fact, in addition to the enterprise of the company in wiring the houses
of all original consumers without cost, prevented any dividends, and many
of the stockholders sold to the only willing buyers, who were mostly mem-
bers of the Downing family, hence their large holdings and their directorship.
In each and every case, however, the original and all other investors were
treated with absolute fairness and paid full value for their stock. This left no
room for complaint ; it was on the other hand a subject for congratulation on
the part of the original investors, all of whom received a premium on their
stock before it had earned a dollar.
The company is in splendid shape for increasing its business, and is strong
enough to meet any contingency or any form of competition.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 6/
THE DELAWARE COUNTY MUTUAL INSURANCE
COMPANY.
By an Act of Assembly passed the I2th day of June, 1839, it was en-
acted that James M. Willcox, William Trimble, William Mendenhall,
Richard S. Smith, Joseph Wilson, EH D. Pierce, John Kerlin, Henry
Myers and William Beatty, and all other persons being citizens of the
United States, who may hereafter associate with them, shall be a corpora-
tion for the purpose of insuring their respective dwelling houses, stores,
shops and other buildings, household furniture, merchandise, and other
property against loss or damage by fire, which Act was to continue in
force for twenty years.
There was apparently some attempt to organize under this Act as a
blank policy, was recently found among the papers of James W. Willcox,
signed by himself as president, and E. Darlington as secretary, together
with an impression of the official seal.
There is no record of the organization which elected the officers
named, and nothing appears to have been done until 1852, when by an
Act of the Legislature passed May 1st, 1852, the Act of June 12, 1839,
was extended twenty years, and in lieu of the names mentioned as
the original corporators, there were inserted the names of Dr. George
Smith, William Eves, William Ogden, John M. Broomall, William
Booth, Sketchley Morton, Levis Miller, Joseph Edwards, Adam C.
Eckfeldt, Jamts Moore, Homer Eachus, John C. Beatty, Isaac Thomas,
James J. Lewis, Joel Evans, Isaac M. Trimble, James Barton, John H.
Andrews, Annesley Newlin, Walker Y. Hoopes, Minshall Painter,
Eli D. Pierce, Nathan H. Baker, John Hill and John Jackson, who were
to be the first directors.
On September 2nd, 1852, a meeting of the Directors was held at the
Charter House, Media, at which the following were present, Dr. George
Smith, William Eves, Sketchley Morton, Levis Miller, Adam C. Eck-
feldt, Isaac Thomas, James J. Levis, James Barton, Annesley Newlin,
Walker Y. Hooper, Minshall Painter, Eli D. Pierce, Nathan H. Baker,
John Hill and William Ogden.
Dr. George Smith was elected chairman and William Ogden secretary.
The county was divided into districts and surveys ordered to be made for
the issuing of policies.
An adjourned meeting was held at the Charter house, Oct i8th, 1852,
at which a number of the directors just mentioned were present, together
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68 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
with John H. Andrews, John M. Broomall and John C.Beatty, who were
not present at the first meeting.
At this meeting apphcations for insurance were reported, amounting
to 11281,771, and a permanent organization was effected and the following
officers and committee were ekcted : — President, John M. Broomall ;
secretary, Jesse Bishop; treasurer, John C. Beatty. Executive Com-
mittee : — Eli D. Pierce, John C. Beaity, John Hill, Levis Miller and
William Ogden.
At a meeting of the executive committee held October 20th, 1852, the
rales, rules, regulations and conditions of insurancs and by-laws were
adopted.
At a meeting of the board of directors held August nth, 1853, the
rates and by-laws adopted by the executive committee were approved.
The first policy was issued to George Broomall on the Pcnn Buildings,
3rd and Market streets, Chester, and is still in force.
The third section of the Act of 1839, restricted the number of directors
to nine, on August nth, 1853, the first regular election for directors was
held and the following were chosen. — John M. Broomall, Eli D. Pierce,
Sketchley Morton, William Ogden. James Barton, Thomas Pratt, Charles
Palmer, Levis Miller and William Eves.
At an election for directors held March 1 8th, 1854, the names of EH
D. Pierce and James Barton were dropped and Charles R. Williamson
and Robert M. Thomas were chosen in their places.
At an election held March 10, 1856, Sketchley Morton was elected
president and Edward A. Price, secretary, in place of Jesse Bishop, who
resigned.
On May 26, 1862, Edward A. Price was elected treasurer of the com-
pany.
On January 22, 1872, the company purcha.sed the lot of ground on the
southwest corner of Front street and South avenue, on which they erect-
ed the present office building at a cost of some $23,000, and occupied the
same in October, 1873.
On October 15, 1877, Sketchley Morton resigned as president, in con-
sequence of failing health and Thomas Pratt was elected in his stead.
At. a meeting held March 12, 1883, Levis Miller was elected president
in the place of Thomas Pratt who had died.
On account of failing health Levis Miller was compelled to relinquish
the office of president, and on May 13, 1889, Charles R Williamson was
elected president in his stead and still continues to hold the position.
The positions of secretary and treasurer to which Edward A. Price
was elected — the one on March 10, 1856, and the other on May 26, 1862
— are still held by him.
The present directors arc as follows : Charles R. Williamson, Henry
Paschall, Henry Mendenhall, Edmund Jones, William Rhoads, Richard
T. Ogden, George Broomall, Thomas Palmer and George E. Burnley.
The company has issued 14,435 policies, has paid for losses up to the
present time the sum of 11468,765.12, and has a reserve of some ^40,000.
It has through all its history proven to be one of the safest and most re-
liable fire insurance companies in the State.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 69
THE COLONIAL.
For years this fine summer boarding house was known as the Chestnut
Grove. It was built early in the 6o's, by Hon. H.Jones Brooke and purchased
by Mrs. Hceckley, who for years had profitable seasons. With growing age
her business slackened, and was for a time abandoned. Two years ago, the
property was purchased by N. H. Wagner, and it has since been transformed
as if by magic. With the improvements but half completed, he had last sea-
son a full house, and this year with greatly increased accommodations, there
is promise of far the best season ever known. The changes are complete. Only
the old walls and the older trees are now in place. The grounds have been so
trimmed and planted that they are a source of delight, with still abundant
shade, and yet room for air and sunlight. Everything is new within the
great house and its annex just completed, and there is now capacity for fully
200 boarders. There is a system of elevators just introduced and run by
water power. There are parlors for guests, for music, card rooms, ball room,
billiard, pool, shuffle board and bowling alley, while the grand porches enable
all who wish to live out of doors. Its great doorways are within an easy two
minutes* walk to the Media Station, and the. view all around and about is
pleasant and restful. The Colonial is on an ideal spot of earth, and its archi-
tecture now fully justifies its name. The season begins May ist, and the
guests linger until the ides of November. Mr, Wagner's enterprise came at a
good time to aid in maintaining Media's high reputation as a beautiful an<J
popular summer resort.
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JO SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
LIST OF COUNTY OFFICERS
Judge, Isaac Johnson ; Court Stenographer, C. M. Broomall.
Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts, William L. Mathues ; Deputy
Prothonotarys, A. J. Dalton, George M. Hannum. Clerks, J. Rohrman
Robinson, C. W. Mathues.
Sheriff, Edmund Oliver; Deputies, Rickard F. Flickwir, Charles H.
Wolf.
Clerk of the Orphans* Court and Register of Wills, George S. Patchell;
Deputy, A. V. B. Smith.
Recorder of Deeds, Thomas D. Young ; Deputy, Joseph M. Rogers.
County Treasurer, Edward S. Hickman.
County Commissioners, William P. Hippie, Henry C. Marshall, W.
F. Cutler ; clerk, Harry W. Honan ; ass't. clerk, Andrew H. Pennell.
County superintendent, A. G. C. Smith.
Directors of the Poor, Newton P. West, J. M. Chamberlain, Glover
Clark.
County Auditors, B. G. Ladomus, H. H. Scott. E. C. M. Watts.
Warden of the County Prison, Thomas S. Fields; matron, Mrs.
Thomas S. Fields.
Inspectors of the County Prison, Harry D. Pratt, Charles Crawford,
Jared Darlington, J. Lord Rigby and Frank I. Taylor.
Steward of the County Home, James W. Barker ; matron Mrs. James
W. Barker.
Janitor of the Court House. Llewellyn Clevenger ; ass't. janitor, John
L. Daltry.
THE CHARTER HOUSE.
The plate ot the Charter House is elsewhere printed in this souvenir
editon as part of the description of the town. There is no way to leave
it out, for it has for many years been a marked feature. It is probably
as well known as any temperance hotel in the State, and it has always
deserved its reputation. The present proprietor is Edward S. Martin,
aud he has brought the old building so well up to modern standards that
none could suspect its age. Mr. Martin was quick to see and repair any
early defect in convenience and sanitation, and he was quick to realize
that the Charter House was thoroughly adapted for an all-year-round
boarding house, where good fare could be united with home comforts.
The result is an extended patronage of both winter and summer board-
ers, the spacious rooms being well filled in the summer months. The
house is the very centre of the town, convenient to the railway station,
and the trolly lines. Its spacious porches relieve the heat of mid-sum-
mer, and at all times give a view of the street scenes as they move like a
quiet panorama before one's view. There are no more prompt or oblig-
ing hosts than Mr. and Mrs. Martin.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 7 1
1871 IDLEWILD. 1900
This well known summer resort at Media, of which D. Reece Hawkins'
Sons, John H. and Alfred L.are the proprietors, was built in 187 1, and has be-
come the most popular summer resort in Eastern Pennsylvania. ««Idlewild" is
situated on one of the most prominent hills in this picturesque locality, in a
grove of old forest trees. It is within seven minutes' walk from the railroad
station and 21 minutes' ride to Broad Street Station, Philadelphia ; more than
50 trains stop daily, a number of which are express. The building is large
and is supplied with the latest modern improvements, electric lights, steam
heat, etc. A passenger elevator of approved pattern, with safety appliances,
starts from the basement. Guests may step into it from their carriage in a
covered way and ascend to any floor. It is supplied with pure artesian water.
It has stables for the accommodation of equippages of those who desire to
keep their own teams. The lawn is well shaded and covers about 18 acres.
Golf links, tennis courts, bowling alleys, billard tables, and shuffle boards
furnish pleasure or exercise. Particular attention has been given to the
plumbing ; all fixtures are thoroughly sanitary and have been constructed
under the supervision of Messrs Watson & Peale, of Philadelphia. The
house is well furnished in every department. The first floor contains the
large general parlor, the children's parlor, reception room, dining room, chil-
dren's dining room and private retiring room. The other floors contain par-
lors and chambers and furnished accommodations for 125 to 150 guests.
Persons who are looking for a summer retreat cannot fail to be pleased with
the delightful breezes and comforts of "Idlewild."
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T2 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
Financial Institutions.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MEDIA.
In all of its history, Media has never had a misfortune in any of its finan-
cial institutions — more than this, there has never been the fear of one. The
private banking of the earliest years of the town was in experienced hands, but
all of these quietly yielded the right of way to the First National Bank when
it was organized, and this right of way it still holds by virtue of age, strength
and a firm continuance of only the best banking methods. So high is its
reputation that in the scale of merit adopted by the United States Treasury
and applied by its Comptroller to all of the National Banks of the United
States, the First National of Media, stands within eight of the top in the
State, and within thirty .seven in the United States. This is a fact of which
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 73
any city in the land could well be proud, as to any of its banks, and the pride
of Media is more than doubly reflected through the great number of towns and
the thousands of National Banks — now in actual number 5,218 in 1899, ac-
cording to the report of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The first meeting which led to the organization of the First National Bank
of Media, was held in the Haldeman building on the 22d of February, 1864.
This meeting comprised the subscribers to the capital stock, and ninety-four
were represented. Those of the first stockholders yet living are Charles R.
Williamson, Joshua T. Ballinger, Christian Schur, A. B. Williamson, Wm.
Bartram, Joseph P. Gibbons. James D. Rhoads, Elizabeth L. Thomas, Rebecca
L. Paiste, H. B. Black, Hannah R. Lewis, William H. Miller, Jacob Hibberd,
Richard T. Ogden and J. Frank Black.
Isaac Haldeman, the first president, died in 1878, and was succeeded by his
s)n, Thomas J., who died in 1894, and he was succeeded by Colonel Joseph
W. Hawley, the present incumbent.
The first capital authorized and paid in was $65,000, and was increased
the same year to $100,000. The first directors were Isaac Haldeman, H.
Jones Brooke, Wm. B. Black, Charles R. Williamson, A. L. Williamson,
Stephen Ogden, Abraham Pennell, Lewis Garrett and Thomas Reece. Isaac
Haldeman was the first President.
At the second meeting of the Board, Colonel Joseph W. Hawley, but re-
cently returned from the War for the Union, was elected Cashier, while Frank
M. Brooke was chosen Solicitor, and George G. Fell, Notary Public. After
Solicitor Brooke's removal to Philadelphia, he was succeeded by Edward A.
Price, who is still retained. Thomas J. Kitts was the first clerk and Thomas
Williamson the first watchman.
Thomas J. Kitts died iq 1884, and was succeeded by his son J. Frank, who,
after being promoted to cashier resigned in 1897, when Homer E. Hoopes,
was temporarily appointed cashier, he being succeeded January ist, 1898, by
W. W. Moss, who, during the same year, was granted leave of absence to
serve in the Spanish War with the Chester Company, of which he was Lieu-
tenant, the duties of cashier again being temporarily performed by Mr.
Hoopes.
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74 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
The present officers are : — President, Colonel Joseph W. Hawley ; Cashier,
W. W. Moss ; Tellers and Book-Keepers, Edw. A. Price, Robt. Fussell, Philip
B. Moore, and Lydia G. Allen ; Notary Public, A. P. Ottey.
The present Board of Directors are : — Col. Joseph W. Hawley, President ;
Charles R. Williamson, William H. Miller, Major Edgar T. Miller, George
M. Lewis, John Leedom, Homer E. Hoopes, Colonel Benjamin Brooke and
Charles L. Serrill.
The Bank began business in the Haldeman building and remained there
until 1 87 1, when it purchased from ex-Sheriff John M. Hall, the building at
the corner of State and South avenue, which it occupied until the new granite
building now in course of completion was started. Early in 1899, Directors
Charles R. Williamson, Col. Benjamin Brooke and Homer E. Hoopes were ap.
pointed a committee to report upon and see to the erection of the new build-
ing, the Bank in the meantime removing to the Fairlamb building, on the
oppo.3ite corner. A. W. Dilks is the architect, Ballinger & Co., of Philadel-
phia, the contractors ; the vaults are being constructed by the Damon Safe &
Iron Company of Boston, from designs made by Hollar Lock & Inspection
Company, safe architects, of Phila. This new building far excels in beauty
and finish and strength and durability, anything in the town. Indeed we
know of no town of like size in any part of all the land which can show so
fine a bank building. It will be completed and occupied in July next.
The business of the bank is very great, and as soon as it gets into its new
building with costly vaults, as safe as any to be found, there will be oppor-
tunity to extend the branch for security to personal effects. The deposits
have for many months exceeded half a million of dollars. The wonder is,
where does the money come from. It shows that the county is rich and grow-
ing in riches, for the business of the First National deals with nearly all sec-
tions of the county, certainly with all of its many Boroughs and Townships.
The dividends of the First National were at first five percent, semi-annually
until May, 1885, and have since been six per cent, semi-annually. The total
amount of dividends declared since organization, prior to the ist of May this
year, has been $381,950.00 ; surplus and undivided profits at same date,
$255,750.00 — making the total net profits of the Bank since its organization
$637,700.00— certainly a magnificent return for a stock subscription of $100,-
000. It means a return six times over of the capital in a period of thirty-six
years.
N
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 7$
THE CHARTER NATIONAL BANK OF MEDIA
Capital, ^loo,cx)\ Surplus, ^20,000. Deposits, ^250,000. Since the
present Board of Directors, consisting of C. D. M. Broomhall, Media ;
Jared Darlington, Glen Mills ; W. Roger Fronefield, Media ; Samuel D
Riddle, Glen Riddle ; Pennock E. Sharpless, Concon ville ; Theo. P.
Saulnier, Upper Providence ; George M. Tyler, Media ; have
taken charge of the business of this bank, it has made rapid strides, and
has become specially popular with the farming community, which is al-
ways the ''back log" of successful business. Ihis bank was the pioneer in
building a new banking house, on its own property, which has been a
decided improvement to the town and adjoining property. Those in
need of banking facilities, safe deposit boxes, or interest on time deposits,
will find it to their advantage to call at
THE CHARTER NATIONAL BANK.
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76
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
THE MEDIA TITLE AND TRUST COMPANY
This IS one of the prominent financial institutions of the borough of
Media and of the county-at-large. It began business January 31st, 1891,
receiving its charter from the State under Governor Beaver. It was or-
ganized with an authorized capital of ;p3CO,coD, divided into six thousand
shares at $^0 per share.
The first statement was issued January 31st, 1 891, and showed sub-
scriptions to capital stock of ^125,625, and deposits of $1,000. Its pres-
ent condition lollowing this modest beginning, shows a capital of $125, -
625, a surplus and undivided profits of ;?40,ooo, and deposits of ;p3i 2,267. -
34. This is a most remarkable growth in a period of nine years, fully
half of this time being noted for the greatest depressions in business
through which the country has ever passed.
Many of the officers have been with the Media Title since its organiza-
tion. They are now George Drayton, president ; Horace P. Green, Vice
President; H. W. Rhodes, Secretary and Treasurer; John A. Pyle,
Title and Trust Officer; V. Gilpin Robinson, Horace P. Green, Solicitors.
Directors: — George Drayton, H. P. Green, Emil Holl, John W. Biddle, V.
G. Robinson. W. M. Parker, Isaac Briggs, W. H. Miller, A. Lewis Smith,
Jared Darlington, Samuel N Hill, A. P. Ogden, A. L. Hawkins, D. L.
Caldwell.
The Company does a general banking business and fills all the usual
duties of a trust company, such as acting as guardian, administrator, etc.
One of its features invites small savings for which 3 per cent, interest is
paid to depositors.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR JJ
^\t £ljekjttrar^ flCmmt^ ^mmtatt.
k. 9L. mBOABT n. !«• vouna z
The Delaware County American
has been published in Media without ever missing an issue, for more
than 45 years. It was started in March, 1855, by Cooper & Vernon —
Thomas V. Cooper, still its senior, and Dr. D. A. Vernon Both were
practical printers, acquiring "the art preservative of arts"atthe Wilming-
ton, (Del ) Republican Office. Dr. Vernon, before his decease, divided
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78 SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
his interest, selling one-quarter to his son, Thomas R., the remainder to
Cooper. During the war of the Rebellion it was conducted by Dr. Ver-
non alone, with Jerome B. Niles as editor. In 1898, Thomas R. Vernon
traded his interest for the property of the Chester Evening News, since
sold to Crosby M. Black. The American is now published by Thomas
V. Cooper and his three sons, Frederick, Percival and Thomas V., Jr.
It became very profitable after Thomas V. Cooper repurchased his old
half just following the war, and has ever since been known as the most
widely circulated county weekly in the United States.
MULLIN'S LIVERY.
Theodore D. Mullin is one of Medians best known business men, and his
livery stand, on the comer opposite the Town Hall, is very central and con-
venient. It comprises large stables and carriage houses, with good shedding
for visiting teams, with an oflSce fronting directly upon State street. The
location could not be better, while the appointments of the establishment are
all that is to be desired. For wedding, funeral or other sudden and impera-
tive needs, more cabs, and very handsome ones, can be turned out here than
in any city livery that the writer has knowledge of.
Here are kept a pair of well drilled horses for the use of the Media Fire
Company, with headquarters just across the street. As soon as the alarm is
tapped on the town bell, these horses leave the stable and are in their places
in the shafts of the engine, the harness literally dropped upon them, and off
they go, with Mr. Mullin frequently their driver. We ought not to see this
frequently, for the mad days of the fire-bug passed six years ago, and the
fact that nearly every adult male Mede was a fireman, and a detective as
well, reduced very much the damage of an unfortunate craze in one who is
now dead.
Mr. Mullin is a graduate from a dairy and milk route in Upper Darby.
He is familiar with animals, and each and every horse appears to have a
mutual understanding with him that both are to be well treated. His hack
service is admirable and so prompt that none are ever left, however inclement
the day or however early the call . We have said elsewhere that cheap and
ready hack service is one of the features of business and social life in Media.
If when the Woman's Club meets for one of their receptions, when fine
dresses are invariably worn, they have only to telephone for a hack, and on
such occasions Mr. Mullin is always at the other end of the 'phone. The
trolly has not disturbed the liverymen of Media, the bicycle has not reduced
the number of horses which they keep, and they smile in sweet derision at
the suggestion that they can knock out the enterprise of our liverymen.
The smile is readily seen on the face of Mr. Mullin, and he lives and moves
and has his being despite all innovations. The secret is in keeping pace
with every want in every day courtesies, and in a fearless confidence that
good teams will always be appreciated.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 79
®be ^tlmaxt CoxmlB Hetorft.
»IKr)IA.rA. BA-nrKDAY. VKUKI'AHY n, l-^SS ^ tlBO PKlt ANKPJl
The Delaware County Record
was founded on March 23, 1878, by Messrs. J. W. Batting, Joseph Chadwick
and Charles D. Williamson. In less than two years Mr. Batting died, and
the business was continued by the remaining partners. In 1881, Mr. Wil-
liamson withdrew, from which time the Record has been published by the sur-
viving partner. Mr. Chadwick.
As a public journal, the Record has always aimed— first and foremost— to
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8o SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
serve the public interests, and its efforts have been to secure and incorporate
the best ideals of Republican rule in public affairs. In this mission it has
enjoyed the confidence and support of citizens throughout the county — ir-
respective of partisan aflSnities or predilections.
■^•»- »l
PRESTON W. WARE.
Thirteen years ago, Preston W.
Ware, proprietor of one of the most
reliable plumbing, heating and tin-
smithing establishments in Media,
alighted from a train at the borough
depot, simply because this was the
terminus for that particular train.
After walking about the town he
concluded that he could not find a
better place in which to live, and be-
gan looking out for something to do.
He was a plumber by trade and fin-
ally secured work with Carey &
Brother. During the year 1893.
after counting his accumulated
wealth and finding that he had $6 in
good American money, he concluded
to go into business for himself. He
invested $5 in tools, rented the small
building on the southwest corner
of State and Orange streets and hung out his shingle, On the ver>'
first day he secured a contract to do some plumbing for George E,
Darlington, and from that time steadily gained a reputation for the excellence
of his work. His business grew rapidly, and in 1896 built his present fine
store, dwelling and shop on State street next to the Ledger building. Those
who call on him will find his estimates as low as the lowest, and the work
will be executed in the best possible manner.
MISS E. C. VALENTII^E.
The most attractive establishment in the ladies line, is that of Miss E. C.
Valentine, 208 State street, Media. This well-known stand has long been
associated with the successful business interests of the place. The store is
filled to repletion with a complete assortment of every discription of ladies
dress goods, fancy articles, embroideries, etc. , which are always the latest
most popular and fashionable styles. The show window is large and hand-
somely arranged so that the outside is exceedingly attractive.
Miss Valentine has been engaged in this specific line of business at her
present location since 1882. That she has been eminently successful is due
to the fact that she always gives her strict personal attention to the business
and her customers the most courteous care.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 8 1
MEDIA ^^ LEDGER.
The Media Ledger
is one of the largest weekly newspaper plants in eastern Pennsylvania
John B. Robinson is the publisher, and T. Speer Dickson is editor and
manager.
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82 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
The Second Media Loan and Saving Association
was organized in April, 1869, the date of its incorporation being August 23
of that year. The incorporators were H. Jones Brooke, Joseph W.. Hawley,
Thomas V. Cooper, C. R. Williamson, Daniel McClintock, Wm. Cooper
Talley, Fred. Fairlamb, Joseph G. Cummins, I. L. Haldeman, O. Flagg Bul-
lard, Ralph Buckley and Samuel B. Thomas. Its first officers were H. Jones
Brooke, president ; O. Flagg Bullard, secretary ; C. R. Williamson, treasurer;
Samuel B. Thomas, solicitor ; and its directors : — H. Jones Brooke, William
Cooper Talley, C. R. Williamson, Daniel McClintock, Ralph Buckley, Joseph
G. Cummins, I. L Haldeman, Thomas V. Cooper and Joseph W. Hawley.
Mr. Brooke was president until in April 1876, when he was succeeded by
Ralph Buckley, who in turn was succeeded in April, 1885, by C. R. William-
son, the present incumbent. In April, 1S89, the charter having expired by
limitation, the association was re-chartered to have perpetual succession, with
a capital stock of one million dollars, divided into fi\e thousand shares of the
par value of two hundred dollars each. Since its organization it has issued a
scries of stock annually, and now retires one series every year, the new series
just started being the 28th. Its present officers and directors are as follows :
Officers— C. R. Williamson, president ; Emil, Holl, treasurer ; J. T. Reynolds,
secretary ; Garrett E. Smedley, solicitor. Directors — C. R. Williamson,
Horace Darlington, William P. Hippie, Wardle Ellis, H. P. Green, A. G. C.
Smith, Geo. E. Whitaker, William H. Tricker and Emil Holl.
J. T. Reynolds, the present secretary, has occupied that position since
August 18, 1877, a period of now nearly 23 years.
The first annual report was issued to April, 1870, and showed assets of
$20,486.22. The present assets are $177,541.06 — a steady and remarkable
growth. The 28th series has just started. Since the 17th series began the
number of shares borrowed on has been 845. The value of the shares depend
upon their age, the highest being $192.08.
In the early days of this great building association moneys loaned at pre-
miums as high as 32 per cent. Now premiums are very unusual, and the
money is loaned on proper building operations at 6 per cent., the shareholder
getting a practical rebate on this by his profits from the interest paid by
others.
The Media Building Association has, in its long life, aided in building more
than half of all the homes in Media and vicinity', showing what a beneficent
institution it has been. Home associations of this kind, as carefully man.
aged as the Media one, have ever proven a blessing to the home and the town,
wherever incorporated, but the record of the Media Building Association will
^ ^(^mpare favorably with any in the land. Foreign associations have come and
gone, but it stays year in and year out, promotes improvements, and secures
: Miany homes to the thrifty throughout this entire section. No institution has
yet come into active business life which fills the place of the home building
association.
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SEMI-CSNTENNIAL SOUVENIR 83
BENJAMIN F. FIELDS.
This gentleman well aids the reputa-
tion of Media for livery stables equal to
those of any other town in the land.
His stables are very large, and cover
much of Baker street west of Orange.
He has won celebrity for the skill and
energy which he has shown in filling
large contracts for hauling either pas-
sengers or freights. He took the con*
tract last year at the centennial celebra-
tion of Westtown School to deliver to and from the station three thousand
persons, a distance of three miles each. It was a stormy day, but the pas-
sengers were there, and so was Mr. Fields with plenty of strong and roomy
teams, and he gave the utmost satisfaction. The same result followed con-
tracts to carry large wedding parties. His hacks to and from the station,
and for any service, are equal to the best, and so is his cab and funeral service.
The Fields stables deserve all that can be said in their favor, and the push
and enterprise of the proprietor is the admiration of many friends. Many of
the botanical and historical societies of Philadelphia and Delaware County
have been conveyed to all parts of interest in his large and comfortable
coaches.
^< ^%^ ii
SAMUEL T. KITTS,
formerly of the Pennsylvania Military Academy, is the proprietor of the oldest
cigar store in Media. It is located at the comer of Orange and Baker streets.
The business was established many years ago, by the then postmaster, Thos.
Williamson. Years later, our present 'squire, Forrest W. Williamson, suc-
ceeded to the business, and conducted it successfully until 1895, when the
present owner purchased it. Mr. Kitts always has a large variety of cigars
and tobaccos on hand. He is genial in manner and consequently gets a good
share of the tobacco trade.
VAN L. WOLF.
One of the strongest desires of an average American is to drive his own
carriage. It is one phase of our national characteristic of self-reliance, and
the ambition is as laudable as it is national. The almost universal demand
for popular light vehicles has stimulated the industry which supplies it, and
made carriage making our leading industry. Media has a model establish-
ment in this line of business, and one which stands second to none in point
of reputation for really fine and substantial productions. We refer to the
estsblishment of Van L. Wolf, at the corner of State and Jackson streets.
Mr. Wolf keeps a fine stock of carriages constantly on hand ; buggies, Jenny
Linds, Germantowns, phaetons and carts can always be purchased at moder-
ate cost.
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84 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
CAREY & BROTHER.
These well-known plumbers started business April 3, 1878, this in a very
small way, in the basement under Rush's store. Their business increased so
rapidly, that in 1881, they were obliged to seek larger quarters, and the re-
sult was the erection of their present large establishment at the comer of
State and Monroe streets, a cut of which is shown in this sketch. They
carry great lines of heating and cook stoves of every good make, and as well
heaters, bath tubs and sanitary ware. They make a specialty of large con-
tracts, and this year have full charge of all the plumbing at Williamson's
School, where buildings are being added and great changes made. George
W. Carey, the junior of the firm, is the superintendent of the Media Water
Works, and his administration is noted for its care and skill. Both brothers
are practical plumbers, well acquainted with hydraulics and every branch of
the plumbing business. They do much work in steam, hot water, and hot
air heating, and in gas fitting and roofing. Their business carries them to
all parts of Delaware County, and they keep teams for that purpose. We
could, if there were space, point to many public and other buildings where
they have had contracts, and all of them satisfactory to all concerned. Their
store is large and well supplied with tinware and everything usual to the
culinary, sanitary and plumbing lines.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 8$
C. FRANK WILLIAMSON.
Charles R. Williamson was practically one of the founders ol Media.
Among the earliest comers his activity and intelligence led him into a prom-
inent part in the management of the affairs of the Borough as Burgess, Coun-
cilman, etc. In 1879 ^^ retired from the shoe business and bought the lum-
ber yard at the Media Station. At this time, C. Frank, the present owner,
was general utility boy. Next the father transferred to both of his sons,
William E. and C. Frank. Four years ago the latter purchased the entire
plant, his brother going to Rosement.
While enjoying a fine business at all times, it has proven beyond precedent
under its present administration. There is no larger business of the kind on
the line of the Baltimore Central Division. Last year an average of a car a
day was consumed.
Mr. Williamson handles all kinds of building materials, coal, hay, feed,
flour, cements, etc. He advertises all of these in fine display advertisements
in the American^ which are widely read for their originality, and he was the
first to introduce cuts of his own drawing or after his own ideas. He has
acquired a high business reputation through several innovations, and was
the first to introduce the bag system of delivering coal-far quicker and cleaner
than the old way.
Mr. Williamson is Chairman of the Industrial Committee of Media's Semi-
centennial, and by his enterprise and example contributed much to the suc-
cess of the industrial part of the parade, his own float and team forty feet
long and attractive in every way.
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86 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
WALTER S. WESTCOTT,
is a young man of rare business ability. In 1898, he opened a small tea
and coffee store on Orange street, and prospered so well during his first
year in business, that he concluded to start in the cash grocery and
meat business, so on April i, 1899, he moved to the Holl building, on
State street, and announced the change to the public.
His trade immediately became quite extensive, and the stock oflered
to consumers is equal in variety and extent to many of the houses in
large cities. He buys direct from first hands and is thereby enabled to
more than hold his own with any other establishment of the kind.
He makes a point to keep the best of everything, and every article he
sells can be depended on as pure and fresh. If goods at any time are
not satisfactory, Mr. W. will always endeavor to make them so. He
believes in careful buying, small profits, and employing only polite and
competent clerks. Anything that can be purchased in a grocery store
or meat market can be found here. It is the headquarters lor pulverized
and other fine grades of coffee and the **Boss" instantaneous coflee pot.
He carries one of the largest assortments of cakes and crackers to be
found in the town. Mr. Westcott takes orders, delivers promptly, and
also calls for orders.
J. D. PIERSON,
the well-known liveryman, entered into partnership with Joseph C. Seal, and
started his present business on Washington street, near Orange, in 1892.
Under Mr. Pierson's constant attention, and the care shown in the selection of
his horses and vehicles, the business grew so rapidly that in 1896 a large ad-
dition had to be built, and among other improvements a fine brick structure
with accommodations for forty horses, was the result. Mr. Pierson pur-
chased Mr. Seal's interest, and has since devoted his own capital
to the business. His cabs and carriages are equal to any tp be found in
the best city liveries, and his horses are all well selected, not only for ap-
pearance, but safety. His hack service is also very fine. We know of no
town anywhere with so good a hack service, as that of Media, and Mr. Pier-
son's business tact and taste did much to set the pace in the best direction.
The Pierson stables are also well known as occasional headquarters for the
sale of horses, for the stables are roomy enough to accommodate many per-
manent and transient boarders. Everything is neat, roomy and clean about
the Pierson stables, the harness well kept, the carriages thoroughly washed,
the lap robes and blankets just suited to the weather. It is the study of little
things and of orderly ways which make a business pleasant and successfuU
and Mr. Pierson practices this to perfection. Many causes combined con-
tribute to his success.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 8/
JOHN KIRSCHNEK.
This well-known jeweler came to Media from Malvern, Chester county
in March, 1890. He commenced business here in a small way, but now
has a fine establishment, and carries a very large and greatly varied
stock of gcods, consisting of all approved kinds of clocks, watches, table
and mantel ornaments, with jewelry in charming styles and shapes.
One of the secrets of his success is the low profits he asks from cus-
tomers The prices at his store are as low as can be found anywhere
with honest deiling. He makes a specialty of repairing, and has skilled
clock and watch makers in constant employment. His store is in the
heart of the business part of the town. No. no State street, and is open
all business hours. Many call in to see and shop, and the proprietor is
ever attentive and pleasant.
Mr. Kirschnek had a handsome float in the parade, a rare piece of en-
terprise on the part of a jeweler. One of the features of the float was
the way in which fully five thousand campaign rings were distributed to
the visiting crowds. They weie, ol course, accepted with pleasure.
CHARLES ZEHNDER.
This well-known custom tailor has long been located on South Or
ange street, next tathe corner of Washington, and is of few who have
succeeded in his line. For a series of years ready-made clothing setmed
to be the order of the day, and the regular tailor had much to compete
with, but merit wins in every race, however long, and the merit of Mr.
Zehnder has been realized from the first and grows as the years advance.
We have seen dress suits made by him from very fine material at ^45,
equal to the best ;f6o suit to be had on Chestnut street. Philadelphia.
This fact applies to all of his suits. He knows just how to select the
best goods at whatever price, and makes as fine a fitting and as durable
a suit as can be lound anywhere. Many of the gentlemen of Media and
vicinity patronize him and continue lo do it year in and year out, for
they are thoroughly satisfied with results. In spring he will clean and
put away your winter suits, keeping them free from moths, and will at
all times do this with any clothing, and at trifling cost. No man is bet-
ter established or more reliable in every business way, and he merits his
large custom.
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88 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
EMIL HOLL.
The leading jewelry house of Media, is that of Emil Holl, at the corner of
State and Orange street. The success of this house during the time it has
been in existence furnishes an illustration of what may be done by energy,
industry and intelligent business management. Mr. Holl commenced busi-
ness in Media, in the year 1877, on Orange street ; but the business increas-
ed to such an extent that he was obliged to build his present handsome build-
ing, and in the year 1888, removed thereto. His store has two large plate
glass show windows for the display of goods, which are at all times filled with
the same. The stock embraces all kinds of jewelry, watches, clocks, silver-
ware, etc., is large, well selected and elegantly displayed. The appearance
presented is quite fine, the building and store being a credit to any Borough.
Skilled jewelers are constantly employed under the direction of Mr. Holl, who
is himself an expert. Mr. Holl is noted in Media as one of its most public
spirited citizens, taking an active part in municipal affairs. He is the chair-
man of the entertainment committee at the semi-centennial, and as such has had
to work hard to ascertain the wants and to provide the supplies for the many
organizations participating. The supplies would alone disturb the quiet of
any committee, but the one headed by Mr. Holl early resolved to buy every-
thing possible in Media, so as to return to its merchants at least somewhat of
their very generous subscriptions. The principle is a good one and is in line
with the proper home spirit.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 89
WINFIELD S. WORRALL.
Winfield S. Worrall, although but fifty-one years old, has lived in Media a
half century. Thirty-five years ago he learned the trade of carpentering
under his father, Wesley G. Worrall'. Twenty-three years back he branched
out for himself as a contractor and builder, since which time he has erected
many of the most substantial buildings in the town. Mr. Worrall erected
residences for Hon. John M. Broomall, Henry C. Howard, Thomas Elkington,
MissPennell, Miss Eastman, George Wharton, Dr. Pierce, now occupied by
Frank Downing, George Wharton, Carey Brother's, the Media Ledger build-
ing and many others.
Mr. Worrall is always ready to give estimates promptly, and guarantees
satisfactory work. The illustration accompanying this sketch is a cottage
erected by Mr. Worrall for the late Miss Eastman.
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90 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
JOHN J. ROWLAND.
Among the most reliable and extensive grocery stores and meat markets of
Media, is that of John J. Rowland, situated on the northwest comer of Front
and Jackson streets. Though started but a short time, August ist, 1899,
Mr. Rowland has already gained a reputation equal to any for the excellence
of his stock, the affability of himself and clerks, promptness in delivery of
goods, and close personal attention to business.
The grocery and fresh vegetable departments are neatly arranged and in
full view of customers. Everything seasonable is to be found here — in
Christmas times the finest poultry, in Easter times the freshest eggs, in the
days when hot and long drawn out, the finest melons and fruits. The
Rowland store is right in line with the best, in strict attention to every de-
tail and to prompt delivery, while the books are well kept and the prices
placed with a view to the quickest possible sales.
The grocery and market business of Media, is now run at the highest ten-
sion, and only hustling houses and firms can succeed. The customers have
learned all the bustling ways of the city, and with our river, miles 5 away, and
Jersey still farther, they want early vegetables the earliest day they are heard
of. John J, Rowland keeps in close touch with all sources of supply, whether
at Chester, the wharves of Philadelphia, or distant Norfolk, He is not yet a
year old at the business, tut he caught on quickly, and with youth and great
energy applied himself so quickly that he now ranks among the first, and de-
servedly so. It is a pleasure to enter his store and to look at his shaded side-
walk, lined with things which tempt the palate and make the housewife
doubly thankful that she lives in God*s country.
J. E. ENGLISH.
It seems to be a common instinct of our nature to pay a fitting reverence
to the places where the dead are deposited. This feeling has descended
through all the ages, and any desecration of a burial ground is punished with
great severity. The same feeling causes us to beautify the graves of our
friends. To perpetuate the memory of the dead is our privilege and duty.
This we can do most effectually by erecting a monument of imperishable mar-
ble or granite over their graves. We owe it alike to the dead and living to
erect something proportionate to our means, to point out the graves to future
generations and preserve the spot from desecration.
If you care to visit any of our nearby cemeteries, you will be impressed by
the fact that a great number of the finest monuments and tombstones were
erected by J. E. English, whose works are on Washington and Vernon Sts. Mr.
English's skill in producing work to meet the requirements of those who de-
sire to embellish the graves of their departed ones is well known.
In addition to cemetery work, Mr. English furnishes cut stone and marble
for all kinds of building work. He has been in his present business in Media
since 1882. B}' close attention and courteous treatment of customers he hag
naturally been eminently successful in his line.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 9 1
MRS. F. W. COOK
is the proprietress of the well-known and long established confectionery and
bakery at the comer of State and Olive streets. The building devoted to the
business is one of the finest in the town, and was built by Mr. Cook in 1890,
four years before his death. Mrs. Cook was, during the life of her husband,
his most active helpmeet in the business, and has since conducted it with
great success. Her reputation for supplying weddings, banquets and lunches
is of the highest, and this is a very material branch of the general business.
Among the regular lunch and banquet patrons are the Gentleman's Club of
Media, the Woman's Club, the Masons, etc. The bakery supplies bread on
extended routes, while at the store and in the ice cream parlors everything in
the line of confections and fancy foods can be had. Mrs. Cook makes a spe-
cialty of fine cakes and fancy creams. The history of the Cook building, if
fully published, would well show what the courage and enterprise of a business
woman can accomplish.
This business house dates the anniversary of its start the same as Media's
celebration day, for it was first opened May 19th, 1887. From small begin-
nings it has grown to as fine an establishment as can be found in any of the
great cftles.
MEDIA STEAM LAUNDRY.
Among the most important operations in Media at the present time is
that conducted on South Orange street by J. Smith & Son. We allude, of
course, to the Media Steam Laundry. Many improvements have been made
within the past few years in the machinery which is used in this line of busi-
ness, and the work now done is executed in the most expeditious manner.
The work turned out by this establishment is first-class in every particular.
No acids are used, consequently wash goods can be put through this method
repeatedly without showing any appreciable wear. They employ only the
best help. Goods are collected and delivered to customers promptly, and are
taken to and from the establishment in a handsome closed wagon which is
absolutely dust-proof. The Media Steam Laundry make a specialty of doing
up lace curtains and delicate wash goods of all descriptions. Their prices are
consistently low and customers are courteously treated at all times. The busi-
ness is not limited to Media and its immediate surroundings, but is being
rapidly extended to many sections of the county, this the result of satisfactory
work and prompt deliveries.
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92 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
BALL & RHODES,
The Grain and Coal yards occupied by Ball & Rhodes, are situated on the
line of the Central Division of the P., W. & B. R. R., at Brooke and Painter
streets. This is the most extensive establishment of the kind in Media.
Their yard contains the largest steam storage grain elevator in Delaware Co.,
capacity 20,000 bushels ; grinding mill, ample railroad sidings and shedding,
which give them every advantage for carrying a large stock, enabling them to
fill almost any order on sight. The coal department of the business is under
the firm's direct supervison, and they employ only experienced hands, who
are interested in sustaining their reputation for careful preparation and prompt
delivery. The facilities with which Ball & Rhodes are surrounded, close at-
tention to the wants of their customers, and fair dealing, have brought them
a large share of substantial patronage.
Among the commodities that can be procured at these yards are best Le-
high coal ; wood — hickory, oak, kindling, sawed to order ; feed — No. i oats,
whole corn, cracked corn, corn meal, ground corn and oats, middlings,
screenings, fancy winter bran, cerealine. No. i timothy hay, loose timothy
hay, baled ; cut hay, baled ; No. i rye battons, tangled rye, baled ; wheat,
straw, baled ; lime, sand, posts and rails. They have the largest phosphate
business in the county, and they quickly deliver to all parts of Delaware
County.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 93
SAMUEL P. RUSH.
In our review of the leading private enter-
prises and old established business bouses of
Media, the list would be far from complete
were we to omit the mention of the harness
manufactory of Samuel 1*. Rush, located on
State street, west of Orange. This business is
almost as old as the town itself, and was
established by Mr. Rush in the year 1851.
The store now occupied is one of the most at-
tractive in Media, and is 20 feet front on State
street by 50 feet deep. The business was
formerly located on Orange street, but it in-
creased to such an extent that greater facilities
were required, and in 187 1, Mr. Rush moved
to his present commodious quarters. He
manufactures every style of harness to order,
and keeps a large stock of his own make on
hand. Mr. Rush l^as always made it a point
to be exactly just in all his dealings, which characteristic has won for him an
enviable reputation. Many of the fine turnouts for which Media is noted are
supplied from his establishment. Mr. Rush is an expert at sharpening lawn
mowers, and has many orders for this work through the proper seasons.
T. DAWSON COOPER.
T. Dawson Cooper purchased the old
established cigar and newspaper business
of John Innes, since deceased, and has con-
ducted a successful trade ever since. Mr.
Cooper gives his customers the best ser-
vices, rarely giving any of them an oppor-
tunity to complain because they do not re-
ceive their daily papers in time to peruse
at their morning breakfast. He also
handles the very best lines of tobaccos,
cigars, snufF, etc , and has a retail patron-
age in these lines equal to any other deal-
er in Media. The difficulties of the daily
news dealers are great in any location, but
doubly great in a suburban town like
Media, where all of the people are well in-
formed as to editions and trains, know
just when to expect them, and want to
know the whys and wherefores of each and every failure. It is Mr. Cooper's
duty to explain politely, to instruct his assistants to do likewise, and they
are all trained to do it very well.
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94 SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
J. HARRIS SLOAN.
Kvery town ha.s its teamster, and is almost invariably a man of marked
energy and individuality, and the subject of this business sketch well main-
tains the reputation of his calling. He is the son of Malachi Sloan, one of
Philadelphia's best known contractors, who retired to a farm in Marple town-
ship, and resided several years in the county. He, too, was noted for his
enterprise in fanning, and owned several properties in the county.
J. Harris Sloan was one ot the early organizers of the Media Fire Company,
and has ever since taken an active part in its affairs, being one of its most
eflficient foremen.
He keeps fine teams, and can conduct a *'moving'* to the full satisfaction
of any housewife, something quite diflficult to do. He can also satisfy the
musical members of any family, by the care and skill he manifests in hand-
ling and moving pianos, and all articles of fine furniture. He will accept
orders for any kind of team work, and in this line has few successful com-
petitors.
Mr. Sloan is in charge of one brand of the sanitary welfare of Media and
vicinity, as indicated by the cut, illustrating this part of his business. The
work is well done, absolutely without offense, and the modem methods adopt-
ed give to this locality all of the advantages peculiar to the best city life.
Mr. Sloan is prompt and courteous in all of his dealings, and has many
friends in all walks of life. He is widely known, and takes as much pride
and care in all the lines of his business as it is possible for any one to do.
This, after all, is the true pride, the manly pride, the best pride, since it leads
not only to self-respect, but to sure success in life. It is the kind of pride
which led to Franklin's success in afler life. He was a philosopher in his
earliest youth, blacked boots, acted as printer's devil, was not ashamed to
save time by munching his loaf of bread on the street, and in this last ex-
hibition, won for himself a wife, who did much to promote the success of his
career. Franklin was right and Harry Sloan is not very far wrong.
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SEMl-CENTSNNJAL SOUVENIR 95
CHARLES H. PEDRICK,
so well known as the ♦» Village Blacksmith," has long been a familiar charac-
ter to Modia — familiar through his fondness and skill in music, his patriotism,
and his great love for the Grand Army, of which he is a member. Post Brad,
bury has no more active spirit. He became a blacksmith by apprenticing
himself to John McMuUin March ist, 1S63, serving four years. In 1S68 he
worked for Nelson Pugh, then in 1S69 for William McMullin, He started in
business for himself in the spring of 1869, at Coopertown, remaining theie a
year, then removed to the Eagle Hotel, and in 1871 removed to Media and
bought out Nelson Pugh's shop. He built a new shop, the present location
at the corner of State and Jackson streets in 1874, and additions thereto in
1880 and 1884. He organized the Media Band in 1861, and started memorial
services at Media Cemetery in 1872 — independent services by the Medes.
There had been previotis ceremonies by Post Bradbury details, the Post then
being at Rockdale. Mr. Pedrick's first attempt at a separate service had only
the response of the Media Band, Samuel Dutton and his little dog ; now it is
the red letter day of the year. Mr, Pedrick is still doing a flourishing busi-
ness at the old stand, and what he doesn't know about horses and their anat-
omy isn't in the books. He is noted all the county over for his skill in shoe-
ing horses, and the number almost constantly at his large shops demonstrates
his great popularity in this branch of a business which extends to every kind
of carriage and wagon repair. Indeed, we have known his skill in the line
of repairs to extend even to the finest furniture, and now when any household
article becomes broken it is a household phrase to say, * 'Send it to Pedrick's
blacksmith shop."
THE MEDIA CARRIAGE WORKS.
This company was incorporated in 1895, and is conducted by the following
persons : — W. W. Johnson, president ; H. J. Hippie, secretary and E. L
Cunningham, vice president and superintendent. The business, when first
started, was carried on in a limited way, ten men only being employed. But
the rare business tact and ability displayed by the gentlemen in charge,
coupled with the addition of machinery from time to time, by which they
obtained increased facilities for the production of very superior work, gave
them such telling advantages, that they are now enabled to employ thirty
men, in order to meet the demands for their rapidly growing trade.
The site of the works at State and Radnor streets, is occupied by a four-
story building, no feet front by 140 feet deep. The first floor is utilized as
a blacksmith and machine shop, the motive power being supplied by an Otto
gas engine ; the second floor contains oflfices and show rooms ; the third floo
is the trimming and painting department and the fourth is used entirely for
painting and finishing. Light carriages of all description are the principal
stock in trade. They also deal in harness of the best makes.
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96 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
THE RORER GROCERY
In 1876 T. Edwin Rorer came to Media with enough of capital and credit
combined to start a cash grocery on Orange street, where the steam laundry
is now located. He was a man of wonderful energy, and his business g^ew
so rapidly that in 1885 he built the fine store at the corner of Washington
and Oronge streets, now conducted by his widow and son Thomas C, on behalf
of the estate. Both the widow and son are well trained to the business, and
they have fully maintained the reputation of the store and kept it up-to-date
in every particular. It has double store rooms, both superbly lighted, one
for bulky grains and flour and produce, the other for all of the smaller articles
in the grocery line. These seem to be countless in number and variety, and
yet they are so systematically arranged on fine shelves that any article can be
found at a moment's notice, and all are really under the eye of the buyer*
The whole effect is pleasing, and the half dozen employes are kept as busy as
well can be at all hours of the day and part of the night. The stand is all that
could be desired, and so is the conduct of the business. Nearly everything
is quickly turned and yet every want seems to be fully anticipated. It is in
many respects a model mercantile house, If through any chance you want
something that is not on hand, it will be gotten for you on the .shortest pos-
sible notice. The help employed is abundant, well trained, active, and noted
for courtesy to customers. Thomas Rorer shows all of the quickness and en-
ergy of his father, who was the founder of this fine business, and there is
every prospect of its continued success'
One feature of the Rorer business house is the promptness with which
everything new is received, no matter from what point of the country it may
have come. If it is early shad they come from the St Johns River in Florida; if
early potatoes, they come from the Bermudas, and a little later from Norfolk
and during regular seasons they buy from all of our neighboring farmers and
truckers. The system of buying is first class, and the freshness of green sup-
plies is universally commended by their many customers.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 9/
WALTER T. HOWELL.
This well known dealer in pianos, organs, sewing machines, and all
musical instruments, began business in Media at Ii6 West State street
in 1885, coming from near Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jer-
sey. He first started on sewing machines, and to pianos and organs
gradually added all musical instruments, even including a fine line of
musical toys suited to children. Nine years ago he started a similar and
branch store at Norristown and still retains a close supervision over
both.
Mr. Howell keeps some fine specialties in the organ line, and the
Lester, Lehr and New England pianos. There is also a variety of phon-
ographs and graphophones. Bicycles are also a feature of the business.
These can be had of any make, and many of the best makes are con-
stantly kept on hand.
One of the current magazine writers, treating of present prosperity,
shows how greatly the sales of pianos and organs fell throughout the
country during the depression of '93-97, and how these sales began to
increase in '98 and reached the highest mark in '99. Mr. Howell breast-
ed the waves of the panic and can count a profit during his business in
Media and Norristown.
^i nmw i^
1856. WARDLE ELLIS. 1900.
1871.
If people did not get sick they would not enjoy the luxury of getting well,
and drug stores, on their present basis, would be a thing unknown ; for it is
in assisting people to win back the health that has been lost that the druggist
finds bis chief mission, and it is a mission of prime importance. In every
community a good drug store is not a convenience only, but a necessity. It
must be a good drug store, however, in the hands of a proficient, able and
good man — otherwise it is a calamity, for not only the health, but often times
lives are dependent on the skill of the druggist. A thoroughly good drug
store is that of Wardle Ellis on the northwest comer of Orange and Washing-
ton streets. Mr. Ellis hae lived in Media 44 years and has conducted a drug
store here since 1871. His store is the oldest pharmacy in the town.
mM m%^ »^
MRS. A. J. QUINBY & SON.
One of the strongest evidences of refinement and culture is a manifestation
of regard for the remains of the departed dead. This is prompted by the
noblest feelings of our nature, and does honor to the highest traits of human-
ity, draws out the most sublime evidence of devotion and illustrates the most
beautiful features of an elevated character. Naturally, people wish to en-
shrine their departed friends in as fine a casket as their means will afford, and
have the remains conveyed to the cemetery by experienced undertakers, such
as Mrs. A. J. Quinby & Son, 206 South Orange street, who have been in bus-
iness here since May 15, 1875.
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98 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
GEORGE B. ALLEN.
This well-known market and store was opened at Front and Orange
streets, 4th Month nth, 1891, and was removed to the middle market
4th Month 1st, 1893. From the beginning and continuously rare enter-
prise has been shown, and the result is a most active business in all lines
peculiar to a first-class town market.
With a view to have the freshest vegetables, Mr. Allen, in 1892, rented
a truck farm and supervised it himself. This farm he has since pur-
chased, and it furnishes a great variety of the finest vegetables to be
found anywhere.
A specialty is made of the best coffees. These are purchased only
from the largest and most reliable importers in the country. Chase &
Sanborne, and the result is pure and unadulterated grades so uniform
that when the customer once buys he keeps on indefinitely. Like care
in obtaining all supplies has given this store and market the highest
reputation.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR 99
BURDSALL & ADAMS.
This firm has been known (or twenty -seven years. Starting business in 1873, in a two-and-a-
half story frame building, opposite the "Old Rose Tree Hotel," in Upper Providence, removing
from there to the Russell property, Media, in 1876, where they remained until about 12 years
ago, when they occupied their present location, using the entire building erected especially for
them by Mr. Bardsall.
From the very inception of their business, it has been the policy of the house to manu-
fictnry only goods of merit, believing that permanent success could only be attained in this way,
and in accordance with this purpose they have uniformly avoided all the cheapening
mechanical devices for manufacturing, adhering strictly to the highest class of hand workman-
ship, and use only the very best materials, combining these two essentials, with the closest at-
tention to the care and manipulation of the tobaccos used, has resulted m the quaility and uni-
formity which their brands have such a well-earned reputation — as an evidence of the proof of
this, the firm with "no little degree of pride," points to the fact that the entire output , of their
factory is sold entirely upon orders, they employing no salesmen.
Mr. Burdsall died eight years ago ; he was never an active partner in the house, but on his
decease, his estate kept up the investment, with the business under the direction of Georgei £.
Adams, who from the beginning, has been its active con|rolling spirit.
The location of their factory here means much to Media, not only in giving steady en)-
plojrment to many men, but it adds to the reputation of the town, for in distant part6 it is qu'Tte
as well known through its cigars as in any other way. Its charter and its statesmen' are 'not
better known than its cigars. • •
633708
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lOO SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
HAWLEY & SNOWDEN.
This firm represents the leading business house in Media, indeed there is
not a hardware store in all of the State which is its superior, either in size or
the variety and stock constantly carried. Its great building with its foor
stories does not accommodate all of the stock, which is carried in other build-
ings. The business was first started January i, 1867, when J. W. and S. W.
Hawley purchased the general store of Wm. V. Black, at the comer of State
and South avenue. A grocery and hardware store was then conducted by the
Hawley Brothers until September, 1877, when Samuel W. Hawley purchased
the interest of his brother and limited the business to hardware and consistent
lines. January i, 1890, S. W. Hawley associated with him Henry C Snow-
den, Jr., who had previously been well trained in the business. In 1895 the
two old buildings were displaced and a new structure erected, 42x75 feet, four
stories high. It is the largest and finest business house in the town, and as
stated has no superior in size or beauty in the State. The front is of ornate
brick and ever3rthing is in keeping.
The line of goods carried embraces everything known to hardware, fix>m a
plow to a fork, from a nail to a spike. The house also carries a line of spe.
cialties suited to the wants of the household, such as lawn chairs, hammocks,
shades, lawn mowers. It readily meets the wants of farmers in a great vari-
ety of seeds, and of mechanics in every variety of paint. Hawley & Snowden
take the lead in their line and hold it so well that there is no need of looking:
elsewhere.
WM. E. DICKESON.
The well-known drug store of Wm. E. Dickeson, at the northeast cor-
ner of Washington and Orange streets, is the oldest in the town. He
purchased from his father, Dr. W. T. W. Dickeson, in 1873, *nd has
ever since conducted the business. It was first at State and Orange,
there conducted by the father, who settled in Media alter faithful service
in the war for the Union as a full surgeon. The younger Dickeson is a
graduate in both pharmacy and chemistry, and keeps in close touch with
every advance in either. In this way he holds a fine prescription trade.
The Dickeson soda is finer than any known. It is widely celebrated,
and the summer rush of business for cooling drink is great ; even his hot
sodas are well patronized in the colder months.
The lines of drugs and fancy articles are all in keeping with a first-
class store. The assistants are polite and competent, and as a result a
good business is enjoyed the year round.
DANIEL LYNCH.
Within the past decade the upholstering of furniture has greatly progressed,
both in point of taste and excellence of the work. Media contains an estab-
lishment of this kind which is located on State street near Plum, and owned
by Daniel Lynch, which cannot be surpassed in this section. Mr. Lynch also
makes mattresses, fits and lays carpets, in fact everything in the line of his
trade. His prices are as low as is consistent with good workmanship and he
is prompt in completing orders.
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SfiMl-CBNTEMNlAL SOUVEMiR lOI
JAMES HAYNES.
A few days ago we had the pleasure of visiting the upholstering establish
ment of James Haynes at 422 Baltimore Ave., Clifton Heights, this county, and
were greatly surprised at the extent of his plant. Every department is sepa-
rate, tl^ere being a large room devoted entirely to upholstering _a room with
unequaled facilities for cleaning carpets, by a process which thoroughly cleans
and imparts freshness and brilliancy to the colors, destroys by hot air (not
steam) all moths and worms, and does not leave the carpets shrunken and
limp— a separate department for the making of awnings, the workmanship on
which is done in the best possible manner, all doubly stitched, the back of
the wings hemmed, and he never uses smaller than ^ of an inch galvanized
frames. There is also a complete storage electric plant in the establishment
which cost $3800, and the entire plant is kept brilliant by many lights.
Last but not least is the hair mattress renovating department. Mr. Haynes
has just received a patent for renovating mattresses by steam renovator, which
is endorsed by leading physicians, colleges and institutions of the county and
by the Board of Health of Philadelphia. Th^ material of which a hair mat-
tress is made is animal matter and in consequence is continually undergoing
decay. Each hair becomes shorter year by year and the portion lost in each
falls into dust. This is not conducive to health and the danger of sleeping
upon decayed animal matter should be avoided by frequent renovations of the
mattress. Haynes steam method of renovating does away with all animal
matter, kills all germs, puts new life into the hair and is the only proper way
to renovate. Mr. Haynes has just added one of the latest improved feather
renovators to his bedding department for feather beds, pillows, etc. These
can be renovated at small cost. Mr. Haynes takes pleasure in showing all of
his renovating processes and storing rooms to all visitors, and these are nu.
merous.
The establishment we have endeavored to describe is known as the Clifton
and Lansdowne Upholstering, Carpet Cleaning and Renovating Works and
was first started in a small way in a shed at Primos in 1885. In 1887 Mr.
Haynes moved to his present place and four years ago began carpet cleaning.
January 7 of this year he added the mattress renovating plant which is fully
described above. Mr. Haynes runs one double and two single wagons from
one end of the county to the other.
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I02 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
JOSEPH C. SEAL,
one of Media's heaviest contractors, and known throughout the county as one
of its most enterprising contractors, started his business in Media fourteen
years ago in a small hemlock shanty at Third and Edgmont streets. Here
his business soon grew to much larger proportions and three years later he
removed to a larger frame structure between Third and Fourth streets. He
remained here until three years ago, when he removed to the present large
brick structure at the corner of South avenue and Baker street. Among the
many monuments to his skill as a builder are the Media Club, Hawley &
Snowden's large hardware store, twelve houses for Fronefield & Rhodes, thir-
teen for Jesse M. Baker, the residence of W. Roger Fronefield, the hospital,
gymnasium and dormitory at the Pennsylvania Training School, ten houses
for Thomas R. Vernon, and the fine mansion of Mrs. Allison at Wallingford,
at the head of this sketch. He is at this writing adding a building to the
Colonial, and doing other important work. One of the features of his busi-
ness is the sale of dynamite, something not generally handled except with
care. Mr. Seal is widely noted for his enterprise and success, and his busi-
ness extends far beyond the lines of Media. No undertaking is too great for
his mechanical skill, a fact well demonstrated by his many successful con-
tracts.
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SEMI-CENTENNfAL SOUVENIR IO3
FRIENDS' SELECT SCHOOL.
The above cut shows the school building owned and occupied by the
Friends' Select School of Media, some mention of which will be found on page
22. Since that article was written Louisa Baker, a graduate of Friends' Cen-
tral School, Philadelphia, and a teacher of six years' experience, has been ap-
pointed Principal of this school for the year 1900-1901.
HARRY D. PRATT,
manufacturer of harness, saddles, bridles, etc., at the corner of State
and Jackson streets, first commenced business in Media in the two-story
building at 13 east State street, in the year 1875. His business kept
constantly enlarging in volume, until now it is one of the leading estab-
lishments of the kind in the county, and Mr. Pratt was compelled to se-
cure larger quarters, so in 1885, he erected his present fine store, shop
and dwelling, and moved there as soon as it was completed. The pres-
ent establishment is well arranged and commodious, and is filled with a
large and valuable stock. He deals in everything relating to horses and
fits out stables complete. He has a splendid local trade, embracing the
greater part of the county, and many of the fine turnouts, for which this
section is distinguished, is furnished from this establishment. Mr. Pratt
is progressive and fully up to the times, and has raised himself by his
own exertions, and it is to his excellent management that he has reached
his present success.
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104 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
MRS. JOS. G. CUMMINS.
One of the oldest business houses in Media is that of Mrs. Joseph G.
Cummins, at 204 West State street. It was established by her husband
in 1856, in one of the one-storied frame buildings, then located on the
west side of South avenue, between Front and Jasper streets. The
present place of business has been occupied continuously for over forty
years. A full line of stationery is always kept on hand ; also, men's
furnishing goods in every variety. Mr. Cummins, the founder of the
business, was born in 1837, in Upper Providence township, within sight
of what thirteen years later became Media borough, and he resided in
the district all his life. He died in 1887. Mrs. Cummins came to Media
in 1852, with her father, Button Otley, and their first residence was in
one of the four oldest houses — the Way property on State street, near
Jackson.
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OUR TONSORIAL ARTIST.
The hair cutting and shaving establishment of
George Schuchardt, on Orange street, was established
by Gustavus Kugler thirty years ago, and was the only
place of the kind in the borough for many years.
In 1888 the shop came into the possession of Frank
Schuchardt, Mr. Kugler 's brother.in-law, and was
conducted by him until six years ago, when It was
transferred to the present proprietor. George Schu.
chardt, brother to the deceased. M. Schuchardt en.
joys such an excellent reputation that he has a much
larger trade than any similar place in the town.
Four chairs are constantly used, and customers never
have long to wait. Mr. S. shows his belief in adver-
tising by having his walls adorned with the cares of
many of our business houses.
MATTHEW ELLIOT & CO.
The well-known firm of Matthew Elliot & Co. , coal dealers, whose office
a d yard are situated at the railroad bridge, was started in the early sixties.
In 1873 it was purchased by William & Matthew Elliot and was ran under
that name until the death of William in 1879. Matthew continued the busi-
ness in a most successful way until his death, which occurred in 1894. It
then passed into the hands of his sister, Mrs. Janet Taylor, and has since
been managed for her by J. Elliot Taylor and H. E. Hayward.
The specialty of this firm is coal, and its special coal is Jeddo, for which
they have the exclusive agency for this section.
They also do a large business in foreign and domestic cements, lime, sand,
land and calcined plasters, phosphates, hay, straw, feed, etc. It may be in-
teresting to know that the building they use for an office was one of the old-
est stations on the P. W. &. B. R. R., being at Wallingford.
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SBMl-CENTEMNIAL SOUVENIR IO5
MEDIA'S FIRST PLUMBINa AND TINWARE
ESTABUSHMENT.
In 1850 Ralph Buckley, for years afterwards one of the most prominent
and enterprising business men of the town, started a tinware and plumbing
shop in a small frame building between Haldeman's store and the creamery.
The site of the present fine establishment at the comer of State and Olive
streets was then a cornfield. The Buckley family first resided in a house now
occupied by Mr. Dunsmoor.
After the death of Ralph Buckley in October, 1895, his niece, Miss Eliza-
beth A. Buckley, took charge of the business and still conducts the store with
the well-known enterprise of the family. The store is now devoted to tin-
ware and housefamishing goods in great variety.
W. G. HOUGH,
the popular grocer, has been in business on State street, Media, for twehe
years. He makes a specialty of teas and coffee. He roasts his own coffee,
which enables him to furnish a strictly fresh and dry roasted coffee, which
very materially enhances its value, rendering a flavor, aroma, and strength
which makes the blood tingle through the veins of the user, making the old
renew their youth and the young overflow with vitality. He sells a fresh
line of staple and fancy groceries of a high grade. As he buys and sells for
cash he can sell at Philadelphia prices, and thus his customers receive the
benefit of cash dealing. W. G. Hough's grocery store is 100 West State
street. You should find out his prices before buying elsewhere.
■^•^ »^
LEIPER & LEWIS.
This firm still conducts the celebrated Leiperville granite quarries.^ They
have been operated for over 100 years, by the present firm 30 jears, and from
these quarries the first railroad in the world was operated. It connected them
with the river and was run by horse power. The quarries furnish dimension,
foundation, curb, building and dressed stone, broken range and double face
stone a specialty — all shipped by rail or water. If you want to see the stone,
look at the new building of the First National Bank of Media. Address
Chester P, O., or Builders' Exchange, Phila,, Tuesdays and Fridays at i p. m.
Mcmullen & co.
Although comparatively of recent origin, the firm of McMullen Co., of
State street, already stands prominently forth in the front rank of the cash
grocery houses of Media, and the business done by them compares favorably
with that of any establishment in the same line. The members of the firm
are thoroughly familiar with every point and detail of he business, and every-
thing is done by them in an honorable and business-like manner. By their
energy and strict attention to business, they have built up a reputation that
reflects credit, not only upon themselves as a firm, but also upon the business
they represent.
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I06 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
BOYER & CO.
This firm conducts tlie one and the only department store in Media —
and yet it is not a department store in the sense of seeking to monopo-
lize. It seeks to accommodate wants which are consistent with each
other, and the large and varied stock always carried enables it to do this.
A purchaser can come from the country and get everything desired at
one visit, and he will find by comparison with any city visit that he can
do better in Media as to price, and often as to quality.
There is a large and general assortment of dry goods, embracing
everything known to this line, whether dress goods, or table linens, blan-
kets or comfortables. The line of ladies' furnishing goods is undivided
in extent within Delaware County, and the same is true as to gent*s fur-
nishing goods. Hats and caps are in abundant supply to suit all sea-
sons and all tastes.
One of the two stores, both on State street, numbered 9 and 1 1 ,
though there is little use for the numbers, is devoted to footwear. Here
shoes of all kinds, for all ages and sexes, are kept in great variety.
They are sold at remarkably low prices. Boyer & Co. have become
noted for their enterprise.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR lO/
MEDIA ICE PLANT.
For years Media drew her ice supply from what was known as Palmer's
dam, and later from Broomall's lake. There were frequent crop failures.
This feature has been entirely eliminated, as Media now has an ice plant fitted
up with the latest improved machinery for making ice, as shown in photo. It
runs night and day and present capacity 1 5 tons per day of the clearest imag-
inable ice congealed from water pumped from an artesian well 325 feet deep
through solid rock, which is first converted to steam, then filtered and re-
boiled before freezing. Maurice C. Michener is the proprietor. The plant was
first started April i, 1896, and began business with everybody in Media and
vicinity needing ice as its customers. The system of delivery is unexcelled,
four teams being employed to serve the output.
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I08 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
H. L. BATTIN.
One of the most enterprising establishments in Media is the market
formerly owned by Charles B. Jobson, but now in the possession of H.
L. Battin, at the corner of Orange and Pearl streets.
It is one of the oldest and most conspicious stands in the town, and
has been famous for years for its excellent home-killed meats.
Although Mr. Battin has occupied the premises but a short time,
the business of his house is very extensive, compelling him to employ a
large force ot men to insure prompt service to his patrons. His business
is not confined to the sale of meats, however, as he always has a large
stock of regular and green groceries and fresh vegetables at prices con-
sistently lo^.
The prompt methods of doing business adopted by Mr. Battin, and
exacted from all of his em ployees, have been favorably remarked upon
from his first entrance to the town, over a year ago, and in this way he
quickly secured and retained the old and large patronage of the Jobsons,
and has since added to it more than could possibly have been expected.
He shows the same spirit of enterprise in every department, in outside
and inside dealings and is one of the most liberal advertisers in the
American. More marked success has rarely been achieved by any man
within our knowledge.
Mr. Battin is one who believe that home produce is the best, and
therefore buys extensively from our surrounding farmers. Home pro-
duce is his watchword, as it is with many of our readers. Indeed, this is
so true that many consumers sire willing to pay a higher price in order
to get it. This they are not compelled to do it they deal with Mr,
Battin. Why do people prefer home produce? Because they know
that it is fresh. Fresh, because it is delivered to the store on the day it
is laid, if it's an egg ; pulled if it's corn ; dug if it's potatoes ; cut if its
asparagus ; churned if it's butter, or chopped and picked if it's a chicken.
Mr. Battin gives his personal attention to buying, which is a guaran-
tee in itself that the best only is procured.
It is not necessary to go deeply into the subjects of meats, as the rep-
utation of the house for such products is sufficient. His fresh-killed beef
is rarely equaled.
Mr. Battin is up-to-date in every way. He secures the earliest lines
of vegetables, and has them shipped to him from all points ; but, as al-
ready stated, he welcomes the home-grown crops, the home truckers and
the home farmers.
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I
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR IO9
The Delaware County Trust, Safe
Deposit and Title Insurance Co.,
Market Square, Chester, Pa.
Capital subscribed, $500,000 ; amount paid in, 1250,000; surpltis, 5125,00^. Jamfes A
G. Campbell, President; Joseph Messick, First Vice Presideni ; John CaldWfll IJinkson, Sec-
ond Vice President, in charge of Trusts and Titles ; John lioak Goif, Treasurer ; lohn K.
Challenger, Secretary ; Oliver B. Dickinson, Solicitor. Directors i Wm. £. Trainer, John B.
Hinkson, James A. G. Campbell, Joseph Messick, C. Sumner Esrey, Wm. B. Broomall, I.
Engle Cochran, Jr., Wm. Carson, Garnett Pendleton, George McCall, John Caldwell Hinkson.
Media Depository - at office of J. T. Reynolds, Esq.
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no SKMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
WILLIAM C. RIGBY.
Respect for the dead is observed by all nations of the earth, and although
the ceremonies adopted differ widely, they are calculated to pay some fitting
tribute to the memory of departed life. Many theories have been advanced
in reference to the mode of burial that should be established, but we have no
doubt that the consignment of bodies to the earth, which is the most preval-
ent custom of the present time, is the most natural and appropriate. In con-
sidering this subject we have in mind one of the leading undertakers in Dela-
ware County, William C. Rigby, whose establishment is located on State
street. Mr. Rigby was born in Media, during which time he has resided at
the same location, 40 years. He succeeded to the business of his father,
George H. Rigby, twenty years ago. Through skill and practical ability, and
careful attention to business, and his personal exertions to execute contracts,
he has acquired not only an extensive business, but a very high reputation.
Mr. Rigby takes great pride in his funeral facilities, if that phrase is not too
harsh in the start upon a journey which has no return. His hearses suit the
old and young, and his horses as well. He has a pair of white horses which
are noted in other respects. They have been loaned to the Media Fire &
Hook & Ladder Company No. I, on every occasion, when the Company has
visited other towns. They hauled the hose carriage and so added to the
general beauty of the outfit, that the prizes were easily won. It is this sbrt
of pride and public spirit which makes Mr. Rigby very popular with men:
He has been a very useful member of the Town Council .
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR III
HARRY P. ENGLE.
Six years ago, Harry P. Engle, the subject of this sketch, started in a small wny in the baking
business at Moylan. In November, 1898, an opportunity presented, whereby he was enabled
to rent the oldest baking establishment in the borough, formerly that ol Christian Schur, at the
comer of State and Orange streets, the business centre of Media..
Coupled with light home-made bread, delicate cakes and delicious confectionery, Mr.
Engle's name is familiar to every inhabitant in Media and the surrounding district. The manu-
facture of fancy cakes is one of Mr. Engle's specialties, and his reputation in this line has been
so firmly established as scarcely to require a passing notice. Suffice it to say, that he bakes
every variety known, which in quality are unapproachable. Mr. Engle is sure to become a
popular caterer, as his efficiency in all the requirements of ball and select party business is
well known.
The bread supplied by Mr. Engle has a derservedly splendid reputation. Many of the
stores in the borough and many in the county handle this bread, because it is a quick selling
article. In connection with the store is a well-furnished ice cream parlor, where every flavor
known to the trade can he purchased by the plate. Mr. Engle does not use extracts in flavor-
ing ice cream, as he is not one to "bamboozle" the public fur the sake of making a few extra
pennies.
It will be soon time for strawl^erry festivals, and there is no dealer in town who caii give
better satisfaction in this time. Goods can always be supplied on short notice.
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112 SEMI-CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR
SAMUEL BUTTON.
The Button grocery is entirely conducted by Mrs. Samuel Button,
who is quite efficient in every way. All of the finer groceries are kept
and the wants of many customers well attended to. The store adjoins
the American office on State street, a central location and one well
adapted to the business One of the specialities of the establishment is
the finest and freshest grades of crackers, but all lines are fully maintained.
Mr. Button is one of the oldest citizens of Media. His father was a
centenarian, and his friends predict a very long life to him. He was
formerly a very popular postmaster at Media, and before that second in
a race for Assemblyman.
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WILLIAM L. BALBWIN
is a young man who opened a barber shop on Orange street, near State, a few
years ago, and has met with marked success. His genial manner has won
for him a vast number of friends, all of whom patronize his establishment.
Mr. Baldwin requires his employes to keep their tools in first-class condition,
is careful to employ men with a light hand, and will not tolerate any but
first-class barbers. There is no better place in Media for good tonsorial work.
MAJOR & SUTER,
plumbers, gas fitters, etc., have been in business
but a short time, but have demonstrated their
ability so well that they have already secured a
large proportion of the trade in this locality.
These young men make a specialty of hydraulic
work and guarantee the best results. They are
also agents for the Biamond Windmill Com-
pany, and the Temple Pump Company of Chi-
cago. Their shop is located in the Buckley
Block on State street.
FINE PRINTING.
This work, with its many half-tone cuts made from original photographs
and with its fine type and printing, has all been done at the American office.
It is a practical demonstration of what a great country printing office can do,
and it shows that no printing, of whatever nature, need go out of Delaware
County. Book work, pamphlets, etc., can be illustrated in any way at the
American office, and it can take first«class photographs and make plates of
them for business houses at as low rates as in the city.
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